Law professor Garton Kamchedzera says the Malawi Judiciary is rotting and there is a need for proper intra-checks and balances to ensure that judges and the entire Judicial system can command public confidence.
Kamchedzera said this in a Facebook post following revelations that some businesspersons have been grabbing property of fellow businesspersons using questionable judgements from the Judiciary.
On Thursday, Parliament discussed the case of Gam Filling Station which the owner, Gelson Mkweza lost because he confiscated keys of a borehole drilling vehicle from Alfred Gangata who owed Mkweza K1.5 million.
Gangata argued in court that he lost K747 million due to the confiscation of the keys and Judge Ken Manda awarded Gangata the money as compensation.
Parliament agreed that the issue should be sent to Judicial Service Commission so that the Judge involved should be questioned.
Kamchedzera, while suggesting that the case of Gam Filling Station may have attracted Parliament’s attention because it involved rich people, noted that
many poor people in Malawi know no justice.
He argued that the noises in Parliament would have been unnecessary if Malawi’s Judicial Service Commission was proactive and justice was not just status-based.
“The time devoted to the filling station matter in the National Assembly would have been used for something else if Malawi’s Judiciary if there were proper intra checks and balances to ensure that judges and the entire Judicial system can command public confidence as they produce ad deliver justice.
“Alas, the Judiciary is rotting, instead of helping the country not to rot further. The Judicial Service Commission and the larger part of the Judiciary reflect a Malawi infested with maggots of personal desire, injustice, and predation; instead of mirroring truth and justice,” said Kamchedzera in the Facebook post.
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