AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRESIDENT John Magufuli has said that the government will continue moving legal services closer to the people by establishing mobile court services including enhancing the use of ICT to run cases.
President Magufuli mentioned achievements falling under the legal sector as significant reduction of corruption acts, delays and framing of cases, as well as the problem of congestions of inmates.
Dr Magufuli pointed out, for example, in dealing with the delay of the case, the government appointed 17 new judges of the Court of Appeal and other 52 judges of the High Court, as well as employing 859 Judiciary Officers, including 396 magistrates.
Furthermore, he said, the government constructed two new High Court buildings at Mara and Kigoma regions and repaired four buildings in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Shinyanga and Sumbawanga regions. He further said that five Resident Magistrate Courts, 15 for District and 18 for Primary were constructed in his first term regime.
According to him, the government also established a Mobile Court that has been operating in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza Regions and by March 2020, about 337 cases were registered and 274 heard.
Other achievements are moving legal services closer to the people by establishing mobile court services including enhancing the use of ICT in the conduct of cases. Furthermore, over the last five years, the government pardoned 42,774 inmates, who were serving various prison terms, thus, reducing congestions in prisons.
The president also revealed that the National Prosecutions Office dropped cases for 2,812 remanded prisoners in the exercise of inspecting prisons and listening to their challenges. On corruption issue, the government strengthened anticorruption agencies; in particular the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) and opened 21 new Offices in all districts, besides establishing the Corruption and Economic Crime Court.
For the past five years (2015-2020), 3,350 new corruption cases were filed in various courts countrywide, where 1,268 suspects were convicted and sentenced by some opting to go to jail, or pay fines or both fine and the custodian sentences.
The winning rate rose from 41 per cent in 2015 to 60.4 per cent by 2020 and there has been a sharp increase in the identification and recovery of assets or funds resulting from corrupt practices and accumulation of assets by officials and public servants.
A total of 199.5 b/- was saved, while six houses and five motor vehicles were nationalised.
There has been increased public awareness to report acts of corruption, where last year about 8,234 corruption cases were reported in comparison to 4,678 in 2015.
This is due to improved system of receiving and protecting whistle blowers and citizens increasingly trust on the government.
Also 3,267 development projects valued at 10.11 tril/- were monitored in construction, health, water and education sectors with aim of verifying real value of public spending on the projects
