Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Chief Registrar of Judiciary of Tanzania, Mr Wilbert Chuma, has warned individuals who are using courts to pack cases, and directed case flow management to put in place joint strategies to enable citizens to get justice on time.
Mr Chuma gave such warning while opening the case flow management meeting organised by the Judiciary of Tanzania to discuss with other stakeholders in the criminal justice system, on among others, means of facilitating timely justice to the people.
“I do not think the Judiciary will continue to tolerate the current situation that has been reached as far as administration of justice is concerned,” the Chief Registrar told participants of the meeting that also brought together representatives from various stakeholders of the Judiciary.
Mr Chuma’s warning comes just a day after President Samia Suluhu Hassan challenged the Judiciary of Tanzania and other organs in the justice dispensation system to observe the laws of the land and deliver timely justice to the people.
The Chief Registrar appealed to the prosecution to complete investigation into cases filed in court whose investigations have been pending for a long time so that they could be heard, and thus give room for justice to be done.
According to the information he received on Thursday, a total of 1,183 cases continue to be mentioned before Resident Magistrate’s courts due to incomplete investigations, as well as 1,773 cases which continue to be mentioned before district courts for the same reason.
“These data and others that will be given during the meeting should help you to put together strategies to enable citizens get justice in a timely manner,” he said.
Mr Chuma pointed out that the challenges the Judiciary was facing in the dispensation of justice on time could be avoided if everyone in the justice system would follow the rules and regulations in place to enable justice process to be delivered in a timely and effective manner.
“It is my opinion that if legal procedures are followed, we can avoid unnecessary overcrowding in prison. With these challenges, you will agree with me that there is need to strengthen the justice system in the country to increase public confidence,” he said.
The Chief Registrar further explained that there was every need to change attitudes and manage issues relating to justice more scientifically to keep pace with the ongoing global changes. He discouraged the move of courts continuing to enjoy having so many cases.
He recalled that according to Article 107A of the constitution, the Judiciary is the only body with jurisdiction over the administration of justice in the country, but in doing so, the judiciary works with various stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of justice as intended.
Mr Chuma reminded the participants that the Judiciary was not spoken well by the people, especially on overcrowding in prisons for various reasons, such as incomplete investigations, timely access to witnesses, limited human resources such as judges, magistrates and prosecutors, among others.
But he was quick to point out lack of commitment and failure by some stakeholders to judiciously use their powers in resolving such challenges as among the reasons.
He gave an example of prosecution’s failure to use sections 98 (a) and 91 of the Criminal Procedure Act to withdraw baseless cases that are pending in court as well as the court’s failure to exercise powers under section 225 of the Act to dismiss such cases for delay of investigations.
