Author: FAUSTINE KAPAMA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: CHIEF Justice, Prof Ibrahim Juma, has called upon officers of the Judiciary of Tanzania, including judges and magistrates, to educate the public on procedures to be followed in electoral matters to facilitate timely access to justice.
Prof Juma made the call recently, while closing a training session on how best to conduct election petitions for Justices of the Court of Appeal, where he also urged them to decide election related appeals proceedings using simple and understandable language to the public.
“The citizens should be educated on the electoral rules through the media and such education should be in Kiswahili language so that the majority of the people can understand to avoid misrepresentation,” he was quoted in a statement issued by the Judiciary’s Information and Communications Directorate.
Prof Juma also advised the justices to take care of their health as they have a big role in society that is to provide justice.
“Take care of your health with great care as we provide essential services to the community,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice of Zanzibar, Mr Omar Makungu, thanked the Judiciary of Tanzania for inviting him to attend the training as such move strengthens the Union and promote cooperation in justice dispensation matters.
According to him, he has benefited from the training as it has prepared them to hear the cases that would originate from the General Election, which are expected to take place later this year.
He added that the Zanzibar Judiciary would also organize such training expected to take place in early October.
Speaking on behalf of other Justices of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bethuel Mmila advised the Judiciary to organise such similar trainings for other types of cases in order to continue to build their capacity and experience in making decisions facing them.
The training on how best to conduct election proceedings that have been and are being held at different times in the country involving judicial officers at various levels including Judges, Registrars, Magistrates and Legal Assistants of judges.
When opening the training for the justices of the appeals court in Morogoro Region last week, Prof. Juma called on the Judges and Magistrates to determine election petitions and other election-related matters in a transparent, fair and impartial manner to protect the dignity of the Judiciary of Tanzania.
The Head of Judiciary pointed out that only transparency and compliance with the law would increase public confidence on the Judge or Magistrate and entire judiciary.
“Our judicial works and decisions should be guided by the law and the evidence presented before us and not otherwise,” he said.
He urged such judicial officers to understand that the cases derived from the General Election are used by the people in measuring and evaluating the functioning of the Judiciary in various areas of justice.
According to the Chief Justice, during the election period the people measure the independence of the Judge or Magistrate individually and also evaluate the independence of the Judiciary as a whole.
“Although most citizens do not follow the usual criminal and civil proceedings, the situation changes during the election proceedings where they follow all the procedures involved in such cases,” he said.
Commenting on the training, Prof Juma urged the Judges to identify areas of need for improvement with a view to improving the existing regulations so that the election proceedings are completed on time and thus build public confidence in the Judiciary.
He pointed out that Judges are leaders, so their decisions influence the improvement of the law or the change in policies pertaining to the rule of law and justice.
“We should consider this training as a unique opportunity to identify areas of electoral development that need further improvement,” the head of Judiciary said.
He said the training would help the judicial officers to be ready to receive, hear and complete all election cases within a short period of time and that the training was also important in strengthening free and fair elections.
