Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Wednesday urged Mozambican judges to be implacable in the fight against corruption, warning that there can be no development without a speedy, honest and impartial justice system.
Chapo was speaking in Maputo at the ceremony where he swore into office the new President of the Administrative Tribunal, Ana Maria Gemo, and the Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Matilde Monjane.
Also sworn into office were Supreme Court justice Carlos Mondlane, and Alberto Nkutumula, appointed by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.
Chapo urged judges to be “the cutting edge of the knife” in the fight against corruption. The development of the country, he added, needs judges committed to truth, legality and the common good. He wanted to see concrete actions against corruption in the public administration.
“In a time of profound and rapid changes, Mozambican justice must be a strategic agent of development, promoting trust in legal security and social equity”, he said.
The vision of Mozambique as a developed, fair and competitive country, he continued, demands a justice system where all citizens are treated on a footing of equality, and where cases are resolved quickly, setting an example of rigour, integrity, responsibility, competence and transparency.
An efficient justice system, Chapo said, was an essential factor for economic efficiency. “Modern economies rest on contracts, rights and guarantees, and on predictable solutions in the event of disputes”.
He warned that “where law is neither speedy, nor stable, nor predictable, uncertainty reigns”, and uncertainty “is the enemy of production, investment and opportunity”.
“If we want to affirm Mozambique as a safe destination for national and foreign investment”, the President stressed, “we must continue to invest in the modernisation of our justice system, in strengthening its institutional capacity, and in valuing the role of its operators”.
Investors wanted “predictable, impartial and independent legal systems”, he said, as well as “free, fair and transparent elections”.
Independent and impartial judges “are not a luxury in our democracies”, he added. “They are their foundations”. Without such independence and impartiality, “public trust evaporates. Without it, there is no sustainable social peace. Without it, justice loses its meaning and its value”.
For More News And Analysis About Mozambique Follow Africa-Press
