Wednesday January 21, 2015 SORT OUT JUDICIARY THE next republican President has been urged to expedite judicial reforms as the institution in its current set-up is far from meeting people’s aspirations. All People’s Congress party president Nason Msoni said there were a lot of issues that needed to be sorted out in most institutions but the first step for whoever wins the presidency should be to reform the judiciary. Mr Msoni said the judiciary needed an overhaul to restore public confidence so that decisions made by the institution were not subjected to criticism. He said the current leadership of the judiciary was compromised adding that the judges that were politically aligned could not pass fair judgments. He said there was need for the new president to appoint a substantive Chief Justice that would be able to spearhead reforms in the judiciary and restore the lost confidence Zambians had in the institution. Mr Msoni said it was important that this wing of governance was strengthened especially that the country would have general elections next year. “It is not fair to the Zambian people that the judiciary has been subjected to an Acting Chief Justice for more than three years. As soon as the new President takes office many issues in the establishment must be sorted out and this should be treated as an urgent matter as the current set-up has failed to deliver to the people of Zambia. “The expectations of the people are not being met as the people at the helm have been a setback in implementing judicial reforms. It must start with the judiciary then spread to other wings of Government. The people in the judicial set-up must be seriously scrutinized as most of them are not serving the purpose for which they were appointed. There should not be any personal consideration if the institution is to return to its expected status,” Mr Msoni said. He said many institutions had earlier rejected the ratification of the current Acting chief justice Lombe Chibesakunda to the position of substantive Chief Justice because she did not qualify for the position. Mr Msoni said the President elect should appoint a person that would be accepted by all. The APC leader said to expediting judicial reforms would restore the confidence in many Zambians who have doubted the integrity of the institution. “If the PF candidate Edgar Lungu wins, we have confidence that he will expedite judicial reforms and do that which is required of him to restore sanity in the institution. Our view is that he will use his legal background to turn the institution into a desirable state and we would like to see judicial reforms that Zambians will be happy with,” he said.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:27:09 +0000