§ Pinpoints reforms, judicial achievements attained in Tanzania
§ He says mobile court is performing wonders
By FAUSTINE KAPAMA-Judiciary, Dar es Salaam
THE Judiciary of Tanzania has attained major achievements in facilitating speed and timely dispensation of justice, after taking measures aimed at enhancing efficiency, accessibility and transparency and bringing judicial services closer to the people.
Such position was revealed by Chief Justice, Hon. Prof. Ibrahim Hamis Juma on Wednesday dated May 29, 2024 at the Institute of international and European Affairs in Ireland when presenting a topic titled, ‘Facilitating Access to Justice in Tanzania, an Expansive and Developing Country: Challenges and Prospects’.
Hon. Prof. Juma told a fully packed congregation that the Judiciary of Tanzania prepared and effectively implemented two Five-Year Infrastructural Development Plans covering the 2016-2021 and 2022-2026 periods.
“The first 5-Year Infrastructural Plan (2016/2017 - 2020/2021) in 2016, addressed the problems of 12 out of 26 administrative Regions in Mainland Tanzania that lacked High Court centres or services.”
Hon. Prof. Juma in 2016, the users travelled to neighbour Regions to access High Court services and a decision was made, including construction of Integrated Justice Centres (IJC) and rehabilitation of court buildings.
He revealed before the attentive audience that six IJCs inaugurated in September 2021, at Dodoma, Arusha, Morogoro, Temeke, Kinondoni and Mwanza, are providing High Court, Resident Magistrates' Court, District Court and Primary court services in one building.
Hon. Prof. Juma explained that there were also other measures taken, including rehabilitation of High Court buildings at Sumbawanga, Mbeya and Tabora and the completion of new High Court buildings at Bukoba, Shinyanga, Kigoma and Musoma.
“These new buildings supported access to justice by comprehensive rehabilitation and construction of modern court houses which expanded the geographic reach of modern integrated justice services and Subordinate Courts Services to citizens across the expansive country,” he said.
The Chief Justice explained that the new buildings led to reduction of the time, distance, and cost for litigants seeking judicial and legal services that settle disputes affecting property rights, livelihood and mitigate sexual based violence over more areas of the 945,087 square kilometer Tanzania.
Establishment of Judiciary Situation Room (JSR), a one-stop-data shop with dashboards and databases to visually display information and analyze court-system-wide data to inform policy and management decisions, is yet another achievement the Judiciary of Tanzania has also so far attained.
Hon. Prof. Juma explained that apart from case management, the electronic case management system (e-CMS) is a robust data collection and management that will feed into the Judiciary Situation Room (JSR) for analytics.
The Chief Justice mentioned another achievement as embracing Information Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and transparency of judicial services in Tanzania.
“This project is the force, moving the Judiciary of Tanzania away from paper-based processes, physical case files, in-person hearings, and limited use of technology to optimal use of Information Systems,” he explained.
Hon. Prof. Juma informed his hosts that all courts in Tanzania that have a "digital friendly environment" are interconnected over Judiciary Wide Area Network (WAN) or Intranet – (MPLS VPN) Services provided by Tanzania Telecommunication Corporation Limited countrywide.
The Chief Justice explained further that the coming of Mobile Court services have also bridged the access to justice gap by reaching court users who face difficulty accessing primary courts in the areas served by mobile courts.
Hon. Prof. Juma explained that Mobile Courts, which are performing wonders, have also enabled those far-off and isolated areas to access court services using information technology.
“At the inception of the project, the two mobile courts targeted to serve 4000 beneficiaries during the five years of the Project. The World Bank assessment report found that beneficiaries of the two pilot Mobile Courts reached 10,872 in 2020, exceeding the target of 4000,” he said.
During the session, Prof. Juma was accompanied by other judicial officers from Tanzania, including the Principal of the Institute of Judicial Administration Lushoto (IJA), who is also Court of Appeal Justice, Hon. Dr. Paul Kihwelo and Judge in Charge of the Integrated Justice Centre for Family Matter, Hon. Mwanabaraka Mnyukwa.
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