Maravi

Judiciary is rotten to the core, says Dr Chongwe

Judiciary is rotten to the core, says Dr Chongwe
By Kombe Chimpinde
Thu 03 May 2012, 13:00 CAT

DR Rodger Chongwe says judge Philip Musonda's complaints against the decision taken by President Michael Sata to suspend him and two others are not justified.

President Sata on Monday suspended Judges Charles Kajimanga, Nigel Mutuna from the High Court and Musonda from the Supreme Court over their alleged professional misconduct, and has since appointed a tribunal to investigate them.

But judge Musonda wondered why the matter was not first taken to the Judicial Complaints Authority.

Judge Musonda said he was willing to cooperate with the tribunal that had been appointed to investigate his alleged unprofessional conduct because he has nothing to hide.

"What I know is that there must be a complaint to the Judicial Complaints Authority, from the Judicial Complaints Authority, they will investigate, the complainant will say his story and I will say my story, ok. After that, the Judicial Complaints Authority will make a recommendation to the Chief Justice who, if he finds that there is need to investigate me by a tribunal, will recommend to the President to appoint a tribunal."

Asked if he felt that President Sata had skipped procedure by appointing a tribunal without a recommendation from the Judicial Complaints Authority through the Chief Justice, judge Musonda referred to Article 91 (2) of the Constitution of Zambia on the matter.

"Read the Constitution, Article 91 sub article 2 and read the Judicial Code of Conduct, section 20 and 24, sub section 1. What do they say? The tribunal cannot take up the power of the Judicial Complaints Authority. It has to be the Judicial Complaints Authority first," said judge Musonda before excusing himself for a meeting with his lawyer.

But Dr Chongwe said the Judicial Complaints Authority had no mandate to have a judge brought before a tribunal.

"I am aware that one of the judges who has been suspended, Mr Justice Musonda has made some doubts that the President should not have suspended them, that he should have waited for an investigation by the Judicial Complaints Authority, which authority would have then reported to the Chief Justice and then it would have been the Chief Justice to report to the President," he said.

"I think that Justice Musonda forgets that if the President had to wait for the Judicial Complaints Authority to investigate the complaints against the three judges and then report to the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice would have either acted or done nothing about the report."

Dr Chongwe vouched that no action would have been taken as the Judicial Complaints Authority did not command respect from the Judiciary.

"In any case, it has no mandate to have a judge brought before a tribunal," Dr Chongwe said

"This is why the President had to use residual powers that he has in his efforts to discipline a member of the Judiciary by appointing a tribunal."

He said he was also aware that judge Musonda queried as to why judges who were junior to him were appointed to preside over the tribunal, to be headed by a Malawian judge.

"The second complaint that Judge Musonda made is he has been suspended as a Supreme Court judge and he feels that the judge from Malawi and other supporting judges from Zambia are junior to his position. But he forgets that the activities for which he's been suspended were carried out by him as a High Court judge and not as a Supreme Court judge," he said.

Dr Chongwe also argued that the Zambian judges, both retired, were much more senior judges than Musonda.

"The Malawian judge is equally senior and in any case even if she is not senior, she is a High Court judge and competent to act as the chair of the tribunal because of her status," he said.

"So I don't think the complaints by justice Musonda against the action taken by the President are justified."

Dr Chongwe said the question was if there was any merit against the allegations that had been made against the judges.

"Without prejudicing the issue, I think there is evidence to establish a prima facie case for the setting up of the tribunal to investigate the allegations being made," he said.

Dr Chongwe also called for professionalism in the manner the judges would be probed.

" I hope the judges will be free to defend themselves and give evidence and that the people of Zambia will wait patiently for the outcome of the tribunal," he said.

Dr Chongwe said the charges levelled against the three judges reflected the numerous problems and complaints that the public had regarding the functioning of the justice system.

Dr Chongwe said the setting up of the tribunal to probe their alleged misconduct must not be an end in itself to calls for the reformation of the Judiciary of Zambia which he said was rotten to the core.

He said that the case of the three judges was also a reflection of fallen levels of standards in the Judiciary.

"The Judiciary remains unreformed until when it is reformed. I am quite sure that it is not only the three judges that have been charged who are guilty of misconduct. It's an allegation to the Judiciary as an institution, it is the whole garnet of the Judiciary institution which is rotten to the core in Zambia," he said

"We welcome the setting up of the committee (on reforms). There is need to honestly examine our dysfunctional Judiciary and how we can make it functional. We need training, we need to weed out the bad elements which have made it rotten. We need to change the head of the Judiciary. It is not difficult to cleanse the Judiciary," said Dr Chongwe.

Labels: JUDICIARY, PHILIP MUSONDA, ROGER CHONGWE

posted by MrK @ 4:24 PM