Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Judiciary of Tanzania has launched a new station at the Lake Zone where Court of Appeal sittings will be conducted.
Chief Justice, Prof Ibrahim Juma, inaugurated the sessions for the first time at the High Court of Tanzania, Musoma Zone, on Tuesday, and emphasized on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in hearing cases to save court time and the parties, especially in the 21st century.
Speaking at the launch of the three-week sessions, Prof Juma said the use of ICT in judicial activities also comes following instructions by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
During the recent launch of six Integrated Justice Centers in the country, President Samia directed the Ministry of Communications and the Chief Court Administrator to meet and find ways of increasing speed in internet access to facilitate easy judicial services.
He said the Court of Appeal has come to the Musoma Zone to move judicial services closer to the public, and added that due to the large number of cases available, more panels of Justices of the Court of Appeal would be required to come to Musoma to hear the cases.
Prof Juma further said the hearing could be conducted online as the Musoma High Court building was equipped with ICT equipment to address the challenge.
“Nowadays we can hear a case while in Dar es Salaam since this building is equipped with ICT equipment linked to Dar es Salaam facilities. Appeals and applications should not await for the Justices. We should be willing to accept the use of ICT,” said the Chief Justice.
According to Prof Juma, the use of ICT reduces the inconvenience to citizens, the cost of following judicial services from long distance and instead having more time to engage in production activities.
He noted that in order to address such challenges facing the people in other areas, the Judiciary of Tanzania, through the Five-Year Strategic Plan, has identified some areas and the construction of District Courts has begun.
He cited the example of Songwe, Kakonko, Buhigwe, Uvinza, Kyerwa, Misenyi, Same, Mwanga, Tanganyika, Kaliua, Butiama and Rorya Districts where the construction of the Court buildings is underway.
On hearing cases, the Chief Justice emphasized on the use of mediation as an alternative and important means of resolving civil disputes, which would help or reduce the number of cases registered in court, thus saving citizens’ time to seek justice.
In his introductory remarks, the Judge in Charge of the High Court, Musoma Zone, Mr John Kahyoza, thanked the Chief Justice for making the Zone one of the centers of the Court of Appeal.
“The arrival of the Court of Appeal is a great relief to the citizens of Mara Region who have been spending a lot of time following this judicial service in the High Court, Mwanza Zone,” he said.
Giving statistics of pending cases in his Zone, Judge Kahyoza said that so far there are a total of 321 cases under Court of Appeal, including 171 criminal cases, 132 civil cases. He said that there are 16 applications of civil nature and one criminal application.
