By JUDICIARY REPORTER
Tanzania Chief Court Administrator, Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel Friday dated June 14, 2024 led a meeting of top administrators of Southern and Eastern Africa Judiciaries to discuss various issues relating to justice dispensation and improvement of judiciaries’ efficiency.
The meeting held at the Judiciary Headquarters in Kampala brought together the Executive leaders under their umbrella body, Southern and Eastern Judicial Administrators Association (SEAJAA), which is a subordinate Association under the Chief Justices Forum of Southern and Eastern Africa.
According to a statement released from Kampala, the administrators are currently preparing for the East and Southern Africa Chief Justices Summit to be held in September 2024 in Kampala. Their association is mainly comprised of the Accounting officers, Permanent Secretaries, Chief Registrars and Chief Court Administrators of the member countries.
Speaking during the meeting, Prof. Ole Gabriel, who is the SEAJAA Chairperson, said that the association seeks to exchange best practices and foster co-operation among members on matters of common concern, promote the rule of law, democracy and the independence of the Judiciary and its administration and to assist in strengthening institutions tasked with judicial administration in member countries.
He said the association was established in 2017 and currently has 13 member countries, although they are rallying other members to join for purposes of judicial cooperation and addressing pertinent issues of rule of law and the need to promote a common judicial interest. SEAJAA members include Uganda, Eswatini, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.
Prof. Ole Gabriel also urged the media to communicate Judicial matters ethically and professionally,saying that justice dispensation is delicate and when not handled properly, it can affect the public and cause confusion in communities.
He commended the Judiciary of Uganda for automation and modernization of the courts encouraging them to learn from Tanzania which he said is now at 99 percent in terms of applying ICT in the court system and leading in Africa.
"We are now paying an advanced electronic case management system and we are moving to translation and transcription software. Therefore, Uganda will not struggle for bench making on this"he is quoted as saying.
On his part, the Ugandan Judiciary’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Pius Bigirimana said that hosting the Executive Committee of the Southern African Judicial Administrators Association at the Judiciary will help in sharing and learning about where other states have been able to excel.
Dr. Bigirimana emphasized the need for the delivery of timely justice noting that the Judiciary of Uganda is still struggling with the problem of case backlog with some cases affecting the economy especially the Commercial Courts with trillions of shillings stuck there due to the failure to have such cases disposed of in a timely manner.
He said other cases that continue to stagnant in the Court system are related to Land matters,construction,banking and insurance which he said have big economic implications.
Tanzania is doing well in electronic case management and with this visit, Dr. Bigirimana hopes to share the experiences with Tanzania on how it has been successful in that filed and fighting case backlog.
There was launch of the association website at the closure of the meeting where member states will easily share ideas on how to dispense justice to litigants and to improve service delivery.
The Executive meeting was alaso attended by Executive Director of Judiciary of Namibia Benhardt Kukuri, Deputy Registrar of High Court of Namibia Susan Hinda, Registrar of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court of Malawi Kondwani Banda.
Others are David Mbeha from the Judiciary of Namibia, judiciary of Malawi Accountant, Samuel Manyowa and Beaulah Kgakgamatso Mguni the Chief Registrar of Botswana Judiciary.
Tanzania Chief Court Administrator, Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel, who is also the Southern and Eastern Judicial Administrators Association Chairperson poses for a memorable picture.
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