From FAUSTINE KAPAMA-Judiciary of Tanzania, Kampala
The Chief Justice of Tanzania, His Lordship Prof. Ibrahim Hamis Juma today dated October 2, 2024 led a panel to discuss a topic on Reform in Southern and Eastern African Judiciaries where six Speakers gave their experiences in their respective jurisdiction on importance of having specialized courts.
It was Lady Justice Polo Banyane from Judiciary of Lesotho who became the first to take the floor during the presentation session before the Southern and Eastern Africa Chief Justices’ Forum (SEACJF) being held here to explain an overview on land court specialized to handle land dispute related cases.
She explained that before 2010, land cases were adjudicated by the land tribunal, which was centralized in the capital city of Maseru and its jurisdiction was limited to certain district.
Because of such limitation, Lady Justice Banyane said, land disputes were instituted in the High Court, Resident Magistrate’s Courts as well as local courts depending on the nature of the dispute by the suing party.
Consequently, she noted that the country experienced delays in the disposal of land disputes. It was in 2010 when the Land Act was enacted to introduced significant reforms on transformation to the land tenure and expedite resolution of the disputes.
She told the Chief Justices that in order to achieve that objective, the Act established the specialized land court, with jurisdiction to hear and determine all disputes involving land.
The second to take the floor was Lady Justice Charlotte Wezi Malonda from Judiciary of Malawi, who gave incites on commercial division. She explained that the division has the responsibility of hearing any commercial matter.
Justice Malonda pointed out that the commercial division in Malawi is a court for serious litigants charging higher filling fees than other courts and that it determining cases with commercial significant and business relationship.
She pointed out that the specialized court has improved efficiency and service delivery due to its structure, handling of cases and court users are more conversant with court process.
The Lady Justice informed the Chief Justices that in Malawi substantial number of commercial cases have also been disposed of through mediation and they diont have a lot of full trials.
Thereafter, Justice Esmeraldo Matavele from Judiciary of Mozambique was invited to take the floor and explained about the Juvenile Court, its organization and functioning.
He explained that the court was created in 1993 as a court of specialized jurisdiction for matter involving minors, that is, individuals under the age of 21 years.
According to him, such court is responsible for judging cases involving child custody, guardianship of minors and adoption, among others. Justice Matavele pointed out that the judges have been trying to resolve the cases involved through reconciliation ang the parties before resorting to full hearing.
It was the turn of Justice Maxwell Gachure from the Judiciary of Kenya who spoke about establishment of environmental and land court in his jurisdiction. He told the Chief Justices on the achievements that have so far been recorded since such specialized court was established for the past 12 years.
He told the Forum that the court has developed a jurisprudence that is responsive to Kenya’s social context of high prevalence of conflicts over land and it is the principal avenue for peaceful resolution of conflicts over the environment, natural resources and land.
According to him, the specialized environmental and land court has led to reduction of backlog of cases from 27,242 in 2016 to 14,405 in 2021 and that the presence of the court in 37 out of 47 counties has greatly enhanced access to justice for the disadvantages and marginalized.
Lady Justice Susan Okalany from the Judiciary of Uganda was the last to take the floor and gave detailed information about the gains of the International Crime Division. She took the Chief Justices on the historical background of the court and explained fruits that have been attained since its establishment.
Apart from His Lordship Prof. Juma, other judicial officers from Tanzania attending the Forum are Court of Appeal Justice Leila Edith Mgonya, the Chief Justice of Zanzibar, His Lordship Khamis Ramadhan Abdalla, High Court of Tanzania Judge Kamazima Kafanabo Idd and Judge Ibrahim Mzee Ibrahim from the High Court of Zanzibar.
The delegation also comprises Zanzibar Chief Court Administrator Kai Bashir Mbarouk, Personal Assistant to the Chief Justice of Tanzania Venance Mlingi, Director of Planning from Judiciary of Zanzibar Salum Mohamed Salum and Chief of Protocol of Judiciary of Tanzania Juma Kapombe Mshana.
Lady Justice Charlotte Wezi Malonda from Judiciary of Malawi.
Personal Assistant to the Chief Justice of Tanzania Venance Mlingi taking down some important points during the session.
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