Maravi

CSOs want judges appointed by Judicial Service Commission

CSOs want judges appointed by Judicial Service Commission
By Roy Habaalu
Tue 08 May 2012, 14:00 CAT

A CONSORTIUM of civil society organisations has recommended that the appointment of judges be done by the Judicial Service Commission and not the President.

And the civil society constitution coalition says the draft constitution was progressive and needed to be defended. Meanwhile the Zambia Episcopal Conference says it will only give a position on the recently-released first draft constitution after its executive meeting this week.

During a briefing, civil society constitution coalition chairperson Fr Leonard Chiti said under the draft constitution, the Judicial Service Commission would be more involved in the appointments of Supreme Court judges which was not provided for in the current Constitution.

"Alternatively, we recommend that the nomination as proposed in Article 183 should only apply to the Chief Justice so that the rest of the Judges as listed in the same Article should be appointed by the Judicial Service Commission and not the President. This will foster separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary," said Fr Chiti.

He said the inclusion of the Bill of Rights, reduction of presidential powers and enshrining of the election date in the constitution was satisfactory.
Fr Chiti said the several progressive clauses in the draft constitution would help in developing and strengthening the country's democratic systems if implemented.

He said they were happy with the provision for presidential petitions as well as the transition period before the assumption of office of the newly elected president.

Fr Chiti said the 14 days which the draft constitution had provided for in Article 1039(2) (a) was enough.

"We further want to recommend that in an event that the elected vice-president takes over the office of the President, the vice-president who is appointed by the new President should have the same qualifications as those of the elected president and vice-president.

With regards to separation of powers, the draft has provided in Article 120(2) that the President shall appoint ministers from persons who are not Members of Parliament. We support this position and it needs to be protected as the consultations go on. We also note that the new constitution does not provide for deputy ministers which we also feel is progressive as roles of deputy ministers have not been clear and beneficial to the country," he said.

On the election date, Fr Chiti said the draft constitution had provided for more oversights by the National Assembly on some presidential powers.
"We find it progressive.

Articles 91 and 92 94) provides for curtailing of Presidential powers by empowering National Assembly to ratify presidential appointments, however it should be strengthened by referring the final decision to the constitutional court in an event that the National Assembly does not ratify the President's nominations. Those ratifications under Article 92 (4) if the decision is not referred to the constitutional court makes the National Assembly a rubber stamp of presidential decisions," he said.

Fr Chiti said the draft constitution had adequately provided for the immunity of the President under Article 96 though Article 969(8) was not necessary as it would make it difficult if a former president's case was to be appealed further.
Fr Chiti said the draft had provided a much more strengthened Bill of Rights that needed to be protected.

He said however that Article 68 (1) and 68 (2) (a) on limitations on rights and freedoms had left room for the state to take away people's rights.

"Claw-back clauses that refer to denial of rights because of 'interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health' should be guarded against as this can easily be used by the State to take away or deny the rights of persons especially when such exceptions provided to the State cannot be questioned by a court, tribunal or commission," he said adding "Even though some restrictions and clarifications on the extent of one's enjoyment of the right are needed, such restrictions should explicitly be subject to decisions by judicial actions. Particular rights, such as the right to life and freedom from torture and inhuman treatment should never be limited or violated in whatever circumstance."

He recommended that the clause under Article 158 be inserted empowering the constituents to pass a vote of no confidence in their member of parliament as contained in Article 189 of the Mung'omba draft constitution.

Fr Chiti said under Article 139 (2), a clause should be included to the effect that the office of a member of parliament becomes vacant if a vote of no confidence was passed.

The civil society urged President Michael Sata to immediately appoint a referendum commission.

"We further demand for a referendum date to be set. We also want to know what will go to referendum. Is it the entire draft constitution or only parts? It's important for the government to indicate this as previous attempts have failed partly because of subjecting the entire document to certain processes where even the good provisions are killed," said Fr Chiti.

ZEC president Archbishop Ignatius Chama said in an interview yesterday that immediately after the conference's executive meeting, which he will chair in Lusaka on Friday, ZEC would make its position known over contents of the first draft constitution.

"We will look at it draft constitution," Archbishop Chama said.
He said the executive meeting of ZEC was not the Bishops' plenary conference as the latter would only be held in July.

The ZEC executive conference is only attended by members of the Bishop's body's executive and apart from setting the agenda for July's Bishops' conference, it will hear reports from ZEC institutions and the regional AMECEA, among others.

And commenting on the arrival of the newly-appointed Vatican Ambassador to Zambia Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Julio Murati, Archbishop Chama said the Apostolic Nuncio was not only a diplomat but also a representative of the Church of Rome in the country.

Archbishop Murati who arrived in the country last Friday, replaces Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, who has since been assigned to the Caribbean.

Labels: CSO, JUDICIARY

posted by MrK @ 3:24 AM