Corrupt judges shaken - Mutesa

Corrupt judges shaken - Mutesa
By Bright Mukwasa and Moses Kuwema
Mon 06 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT

THE mere intent to clean up the Judiciary has shaken up corrupt judges, says Zambians for Empowerment and Development president Dr Fred Mutesa.

Commenting on calls for judicial reforms, Dr Mutesa encouraged stakeholders in the legal fraternity to converge and propose the desired reforms in the Judiciary as it was critical to the development of democracy in the country.

"I can assure you right now, no judge will act corruptly. The mere intent to cleanse the system is sufficient to cause the rogues to lie low for a while," Dr Mutesa said.

"Use the ‘truce' to bring up proper reforms. Targeting individuals retrospectively is witch-hunt and counterproductive."

He said policy should triumph over personal vendetta as it was a civilised way of
doing things in the process of pushing for reforms in the judiciary.

"The bad eggs can't survive in a clean environment! There is no doubt that the Judiciary in our society is long over-due for far-reaching reforms," he said.

Dr Mutesa said the reforms must be targeted at addressing systematic failure.

He said slowness in the dispensation of justice, shortage of judges and prosecutors and a weak legal aid system for the poor were some of the areas that needed reform.

Dr Mutesa said lack of judicial independence, particularly in political cases and those involving members of the ruling class, unlawful rulings, rogues in the system, insufficient funding and archaic laws had ‘bedeviled' the country's legal system.

He also said the proposals for reforms could be submitted to the constitution-making process.

"Emphasis should be on security of tenure of judges, financial autonomy, code of ethics to guide conduct of judges, autonomous and credible judicial service commission, review of salaries and conditions of service for all personnel in the Judiciary, and improved legal aid for the poor," Dr Mutesa said.

There have been widespread calls for reforms in the Judiciary with some stakeholders calling for the removal of the Chief Justice Ernest Sakala.

Meanwhile, Dr Mutesa said there is need for the government to address the other components of its development agenda with the same zeal that it is showing in the fight against corruption.

In a separate interview, Dr Mutesa said sectors such as education, health services, local government and decentralization as well as agriculture development were the ultimate areas that would improve public service delivery and create the much needed jobs in the economy.

And Dr Mutesa said the recently released Pastoral Letter by the Zambia Episcopal Conference provides timely counsel to the PF government.

He hoped President Michael Sata will carefully study the Pastoral Letter and make the necessary adjustments to his style of governance.

"As ZED we would like to particularly reiterate the point well made by the Pastoral Letter that the PF government should take all the necessary measures to ensure that the rule of law is strictly adhered to in its quest to fight corruption. We as a party would like to further caution the PF government to avoid endangering the macro economic stability and investor confidence which has taken 20 years of great sacrifice on the part of the Zambians to achieve," Dr Mutesa said.

He said the unauthorised budget expenditures on areas such as the creation of new districts and salaries hikes were bound to create a budget overrun with grave consequences on the country's inflation targets.

He said similarly, investor confidence was likely to go down if companies felt insecure about their investment.

"Thus what might ensue, the pressure on the Kwacha may increase resulting in reduced ability to import goods and services in the economy. A weak kwacha is bound to result in the increase of fuel and food prices which hurt the poor," said Dr Mutesa.