Africa-Press – Tanzania. ZANZIBAR President Dr Hussein Mwinyi yesterday reaffirmed the government’s resolve to improve justice dispensation environment, tasking the judiciary to ingeniously address challenges that haunt the department.
Launching the imposing Zanzibar High Court building at Tunguu in Unguja South Region, Dr Mwinyi said the government will continually construct new court buildings and fit them with all the required working equipment to improve the working environment of judges and magistrates.
He, however asked the court employees to properly maintain the buildings and all their equipment, which have dearly cost taxpayers.
The president underscored the need for highly skilled legal experts to support the country’s social and economic transformation drive.
“The government efforts to improve building structures and office equipment ought to match with training; employees in legal cadre will get
opportunities for domestic and international training,” President Mwinyi said.
He said the country’s legal experts are duty-bound to advise the government in various important development issues, especially in drafting contractual documents with international organisations.
The judiciary had for many years operated under difficult environment due to limited space due to lack of buildings, with the few ramshackle structures saving as court buildings, the president said.
He cited the dilapidated Vuga high court building, which was inherited from the colonial administration, saying it had impeded the court operations.
Dr Mwinyi directed the judiciary to maintain the Vuga building, insisting that the government resolve is to transform the entire Stone Town into a tourist hub. “The government intends to relocate all its offices from Stone Town to transform the area into a real tourism nucleus,” he said.
Zanzibar’s Acting Chief Justice (CJ) Khamis Ramadhan Abdalla described the launch of the new building as a great relief, saying the Vuga high court building is already crowded and is not friendly to people with disabilities.
He said some judges were compelled to go on leave during the court of appeal sessions due to lack of office space.
CJ Ramadhan decried reluctance by witnesses in the sexual abuse related cases to testify as a serious obstacle to the case trials. He said some of the victims go to the extremes of embracing their abusers as husbands.
The acting CJ asked the government to construct the new high court building in Pemba, saying the current structure at Chakechake’s Kichungwani is almost inaccessible due to the city development related challenges.
The High Court Chief Executive Kai Bashiru Mbarouk said construction of the building cost 16.8bn/-, which was provided by the revolutionary government at 100 per cent. Advent Construction Limited executed the four-storey structure on a 4.3—acre plot.
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