THE International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) says judicial officers, as servants of the people, are subject to the rule of law and should carry out their functions in accordance with the law.
The ICJ said this in a statement released yesterday following its completion of a mission to Zambia in the case of the suspension of three judges.
Supreme Court Judge, Philip Musonda and High Court judges, Charles Kajimanga and Nigel Mutuna were suspended last month and a tribunal has since been appointed to probe their alleged misconduct.
The ICJ said it believed that judicial officers were, like all other institutions of the State, subject to the law, the rule of law in particular, and should carry out their judicial functions in line with the law.
The ICJ also hoped that the due process and constitutional guarantees would be followed to ensure that the process was consistent with fairness and that it was not used to undermine the independence of the Judiciary in Zambia, as has been the case in other jurisdictions within the region.
The institution also observed that it was important for any judiciary to depict qualities of independence and accountability in the administration of justice.
Following the suspension of the judges and concerns about the relations between the Judiciary and the Executive, the ICJ sent a fact-finding mission to Zambia between May 16 and 18, 2012 to understand the circumstances leading to President Michael Sata’s decision, the forces at play and the impact of this development on the independence of the judiciary.
The ICJ delegation met various stakeholders and other persons interested in the administration of justice.
The ICJ team that comprised Justice Moses Chinhengo, formerly of the High Courts of Zimbabwe and Botswana and ICJ commissioner, as head of the delegation; Justice Qinisile Mabuza of the High Court of Swaziland; Justice Thomas Masuku, formerly of the High Courts of Botswana and Swaziland, member of Advisory Group – Centre for Independence of Judges and Lawyers (CIJL) and interim coordinator of the African Judges Forum (AJF); Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer and ICJ consultant, and Arnold Tsunga, the Africa director of the ICJ Africa Programme.
The ICJ further said the matter had been handled in a manner that had created potential for a serious strain in relations between the Judiciary, the Legal Profession and the Executive in a manner that did not augur well for judicial independence and harmony in the administration of justice.
The matter had also provided an opportunity for public expressions on the state of the administration of justice in the country in a way that had placed the judicial institution into public scrutiny, if not potentially into disrepute.
“While such scrutiny is not a problem, the readiness and enthusiasm with which some leaders in Government have commented on this development is of concern.”
“The ICJ reiterates that it is important for any judiciary to depict qualities of independence and accountability in the administration of justice. While the ICJ may not be opposed to legitimate expression of opinion on judicial accountability, such expression must have regard to due process requirements of international and municipal principles on judicial independence and the rule of law.
The ICJ has since encouraged all those involved to exercise restraint as the process unfolded to avoid a situation where the public felt that there was political encouragement to attack the judicial organ or the judiciary was forced to invoke contempt proceedings in a manner that may escalate the situation.
[Times of Zambia]
so, mwamona ba opposition, every one is subject to the rule of law and stop looking at the judges as infallible humans. this is 2012 by the way where likes of Liato are able to plant money as a cash crop. even mabenga can eat the CDF but goes scot free. what more chiluba who claimed 8 million dollars in an account to which he was not a signatory? some chinyama lawyer never saw any thing close to money laundering and before sata became president, you the oppo. were singing that chinyama and the judiciary are corrupt but sata tries to sweep, you say iyo twalibelela ifiko. ba mumbwe imwe
all we need is a strong constittution that is more expilicit in terms of definitions, powers of president. for gods sake, we cannot be amending something that was tailored for a one party militant state under kk. we need a president who is afraid to put 8 million dollars in the govt coffers. we need a president who will stand publicly and say the money am using was donated by GBM or Kavindele etc and stop hiding in anonymous donors, all anonymous donors must be deem dirty chaps period
The emphasis put by ICJ on the state to follow rule of law, ICJ says ” it believed that judicial officers were, like all other institutions of the State, subject to the law, the rule of law in particular, and should carry out their judicial functions in line with the law ” ICJ is concerned that “the matter had been handled in a manner that had created potential for a serious strain in relations between the Judiciary, the Legal Profession and the Executive in a manner that did not augur well for judicial independence and harmony in the administration of justice. ICJ further observes that comments by govt leaders on the Judicially are of concern to the independence of the Judicially and to rule of law.
SPOT ON
#2 I love myself. You haven’t said anything. All you did was cut and paste from the article
All what I trying to put across is that the focus of the ICJ was whether rule of law was followed in the suspension of judges. The debate ICJ has left us with is; what is rule of law? One blogger sometimes back made a comment that the Presidents is the one that allows a person to be hanged even if a court convicts that person to hang. The rule of law in this case will be that the President will have to wait for Judge to convict someone to hang before a President can assert his authority to have someone hanged regardless of whether the President really wants a person to be hanged, poceedure has to be followed. In the case of Judges, the Judicial Complaints Commitee has to recommend to the President to set up a judges tribunal and not for a President to just wake up and set a tribunal.
I Love myself, May I know the members of Judicial Complaint Commission?
I see that the article is from Times of Zambia where either understanding English is a challenge or biased distortion is the norm, with the Post as Chief Torch Bearer. LT, can you please source a decent or full report for us so that we can understand the ICJ report and debate intelligently. Same applies to you Zambia Watchdog.
We look forwrd to tomorow s planned reaction by the Judges. They could not make a statement as they were awaiting the statement from ICJ. now that it is out i hope the judges press conference will give us an insight of how clean or dirty the judiciary is
#3 Mwana opezamo, I guess what #2, I love myself, is trying to say is that the International Commission of Jurists has made the work of the tribunal easy under normal circumstances. But in the well known Zambian abnormal circumstances the tribunals findings and recommendations are likely to be rubbished.
Whichever way you look at this report, the guilty party is clearly government. With or without their allegations of a “rotten” judiciary, Government is supposed to be the citizens ultimate protector and therefore must be seen to be queaky clean at all times. To me this ICJ report is an embarrassing indictment on our government, although ICJ has gone to great but unsuccessful length to couch their report as diplomatically as possible.
Embarrassing on government??? As professionals, lawyers have the primary duty to regulate and monitor themselves so that they deliver a quality service. Government only comes in when self regulation (as in this case) has failed or never existed.
The ICJ is double correct – lawyers are not above the law. Lets not complicate simple things with many words
The debate ICJ has left us is; what is rule of law? One blogger sometimes back commented that the Presidents is the one that allows a person to be hanged even if a court convicts a person to hang. The rule of law in this case will be that the President will have to wait for a Judge to convict someone to hang before a President can assert his authority to have someone hanged regardless of whether the President hates the person; poceedure has to be followed, again if a person so convicted is hated by the hangman the hangman can not just hang the convictee based on the judgement by a judge to have a convict hanged, the hangman will need to wait for authority from the President; that is rule of law. Did Sata follow rule of law in suspending Judges? That is the big question.
How can we as a people put a stop to this slaughter on the Judiciary and help Govt put proper Judicial system reforms with clear guidelines (NOT ONLY JUDICIARY BUT THE WHOLE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN ZAMBIA) .Unlike the way these reforms are allegedly being done in this 14billion DBZ Chipoka tribunal whose mission is clearly not judicial reforms but protecting Mmembe-Nchito) .Also the Mmembe- NCHITO company are becoming so dangerous to Zambia& the society…. When it suited them they used Justice Sakala to sort out Chiluba after removing Justice Ngulube who refused to dance to their tunes to sort out their enemies& Chiluba.Now that Justice Sakala has stood his ground after discovering how Mmembe&company blackmail authorities, Justice Sakala has now become an enemy ofthese crooks…
we want 14bn kwacha twapapata please!
PF Govt is promoting anarchy by being qiuet over calls for chief justice to resign when there are no charges at all. If there are allegations by sylvia and her disciples, they should take them to ACC. The DPP is the one who has many allegations against him in black and white.
The message is clear everyone is subject to the rule of law which includes Mmembe and Nchito paying back the 14billion, the president not instituting tribunal as a pay back to Mmembe. S. Zulu not commenting in a wild fire style or manner. Allow for the Judicial reveiw first and if this is not well done after presenting facts and not fabrications in one’s own news paper, then appear to the president. In the mean time Mmembe and Nchito should have paid back. Look at the pressure being applied on the poor who borrowed from Citizen Empowerment Commision. Mmembe and Nchito to go unchecked just because they helped Sata go to plot 1. The anwser is simple NO, Mmembe and Nchito pay back period.
#12 Zed Poor People, agreed entirely. The way the “Executive” has handled the tribunal issue does not give much confidence considering the relationship of the “Executive” to the debtors. Never mind what the law says, the President may or may not have those powers, but the bottom line is that we the majority see in this matter a large amount of public money (K14B) which the “Executive” ‘s friends have refused or unable to pay. That is the Alpha and Omega of the matter.
What beats me is why no one seems to see nothing wrong with one Wooden guy for not declaring interest in the matter and recuse himself. The Judges who saw this anomaly and tried to correct it are now the accused. Holy Shit, what justice is this!! No one has even shown how the three Judges are corrupt, were they paid by DBZ to find Mmembe & Co liable to pay back the K14B? If not, then the word corruption must have a new meaning in the PF government!
@9
Rule of Law IS:
individuals, persons and government submitting to, obeying and being regulated by law, and not arbitrary action by an individual or a group of individuals.
Related Terms: Judicial Independence
A government of law and not of men.
Distinguished from the rule of man where, for example, in a monarchy, tyrannical or theocratic form of government, governance and rules of conduct is set and altered at the discretion of a single person, or a select group of persons.
In a political system which adheres to the paramountcy of the rule of law, the law is supreme over the acts of the government and the people.
I THOUGHT ROGER CHONGWE WAS PART OF THIS GROUP.
We pray for the nation of Zambia.Due to bad judgement,poverty and greed the masses believed in more money in their pockets in 90days.Now we have leadership thats taking the country nowhere slowly.May there be a change of heart in the leadership and May Zambia be taken to greater heights.Lets pray for our leaders folks.
Clearly, the morons at Times of Rhodesia cant read. The report says the ICJ is concerned that the govt has messed this one up. Rule of Law means due process should have been followed. That includes Nchito and his band of robbers appealing the judgement if they were not happy!!
Even the juduciary officers are subject to rule of law.Therefore, when we say M’meembe and his close friend Nchito should pay the K14,000000000.00 they owe the Bank the rule of law should be followed and so is Sakala when we demand his resignation.
Times of Sata never imformed us that ICJ was in Zambia. Now you pick an item without a background to cleanse you scum . Sata is a fraud. A conn old man without shame. Wake up young pipo . You are too smmart for tthis sick lion.
LETS US NOT CRITICIZE WHERE UN NECESSARY, LET US AS ZAMBIAN STOP THIS HABIT OF JUST TALKING WHEN EVER WE ARE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE INTERVIEWED BY THE MEDIA.Some Zambians are good at talking not acting, why not allow the tribunal that was put in place by the President to do its Job? If the Court Judges did nothing wrong, then they will be declared free.I wish I was in Government I would make sure all these people who talk and just make noise without proper thinking are corrected so that the image of our lovely Zambia remains good to every one in the world.
Sit down, think,think again, think big and analyze before you make noise.
Kakoma
The best way forward is to request Fred and his tandem of thieves to pay K14bn, tribunal to take place and finally retire Sakala for allowing busakalanyongo in Judiciary.
Whereas I appreciate some of the concerns of the ICJ, I am concerned that it has not addressed itself to the issue of the origins of the judicial situation Zambia and her people have found themselves in. Former Magistrate Screvener Mulubwa has hit the nail on the head when he emphasised that the judiciary has been reaking of corruption for too long. In other words, the judges and magistrates have allowed the rotten situation the country has found itself in and hence the disrepute they have earned themselves. ICJ should not blame the ordinary citizens for making justfied comments. Corruption in the judiciary has been practiced too openly for everyone in the country to see.
We want our 200 billion from UPND..the money they stole through the NCC, there after then Membe and Inchito should also guve us the 14 billion. All the thieves should pay back.
The Juiciary’s levels of corruption are at toxic levels. Mr E. Chipimo, do you mean to say you are not aware of high levels corruption in the judiciary??? If you do how do you suggest we do about it. If a worker is caught stealing from hs employees a day before retirement, he ought to be fired immediately.. In this case a few ‘bad groundnut’ judges are accussed of corruption. The whole system is rotten baba. Their boss ought to go for the good of Zambia. For some time now a lot of jugdes have behaved as if their above the law.
kaemba @25 so the CJ was caught stealing was he? How about a DPP who has been found ,in a court of law, guilty of stealing not groundnuts but K14 billion kwacha ( obtaining something fraulently is stealing), put on his defense for forging a Judge’s signature, dropped cases that involve people / institutions he has borrowed billions from, may I go on? do you have all day?
What wold you do about an individual such as he? Let him hold high office?
He is pure evil, his corruption is worse than any known in Zambia ,why ? because he has the capacity and enough backing to sweep it all under the carpet. Him and his buddy at the Post are no better than what one steps on when walking out and about.
the CJ should not be blamed for refusing to shake hands with sata, everyone has a right who to greet and who not to and it is not a crime when he refused to do so