- UNDP Representative in Tanzania meets chief justice
- Vows to come back to learn more on judiciary made reforms
By FAUSTINE
KAPAMA-Judiciary, Dar es Salaam
United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Representative to Tanzania, Mr. Shigeki
Komatsubara today dated December 13, 2024 paid a courtesy call to the Chief
Justice of Tanzania, His Lordship Prof. Ibrahim Hamis Juma for introducing
himself and discussing various issues aimed at enhancing cooperation between
the Judiciary of Tanzania and such UN body.
Mr Komatsubara arrived at
the Chief Justice’s Office situated at the Court of Appeal Building in Dar es
Salaam at around 8.00 am, accompanied with some other officers, notably
Programme Specialist Godfrey Mulisa, Programme Associate Governance Fridah
Mwakasyuka, Executive Associate Evaline Odera and Head of Communications and
Partnerships Sawiche Wamunza.
After a brief
introduction led by the Chief Court Administrator of Judiciary of Tanzania,
Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel, the Head of the delegation told the Chief Justice
that before coming to Tanzania he served in the same capacity in Ghana and
Malawi and worked closely with Tanzanian representatives in those countries and
benefited a lot from them.
“I have come to introduce
and inform you that UNDP is here and is eager to contribute to very critical issues
relating to justice delivery in every country, but especially Tanzania…
“Secondly, I am here to
request that maybe I may be given more opportunities to come to you. We wish to
work with you closely to make sure that good examples and stories from Tanzania
is shared and well known not only in Africa but also globally,” he said.
The UNDP boss in Tanzania
was, however, quick to point out that he was aware of the nature of judicial
officers’ profession and that they need to have independency and
confidentiality, but believed that the judiciary institutions and people who
are working there are very important to the general society.
Mr Komatsubara explained
that UNDP was not looking for publicity, but for opportunities to contribute to
judicial work and also connect with other stakeholders.
“Judiciary institutions
are not exactly for publicity, but where it comes of sharing good practices,
sharing more future looking solutions customer orientated. I wish also to
discuss with your team how we could contribute to real sharing good practices…
“You said customer satisfaction
for the judiciary was 61 percent, but shot to 88 percent. I think more people
should know what differences your making so that they could real even more
appreciate what the judiciary system in Tanzania is doing,” he said.
On his part, the Chief
Justice welcomed the UNDP Representative to the Judiciary of Tanzania and
expressed his happiness for the UN official’ s decision, which opens a new
chapter. “Normally, UNDP works with more with the Government and may be
Legislature, but coming also to open an avenue of cooperation with the
Judiciary is a very good thing,” he said.
His Lordship Prof. Juma
accepted the request of his guest of having more opportunities to come to the
Judiciary and learn what they were doing considering the fact that the judiciary
is currently undertaking what is called “Judiciary Led Reforms.”
“If you look at the
Constitution of Tanzania, it guarantees access to justice to everybody and also
gives the Judiciary of Tanzania the responsibility of facilitating access to
justice. I am sure access to justice is very important component of UNDP work
because your mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of
law and inclusive institutions. As you can see, there is a lot of interaction
between your mandate and ours,” he said.
The Chief Justice
explained that the Judiciary of Tanzania was doing judicial modernization and
that in order to get funding they follow Tanzania Vision 2025 as access to
justice is development, rule of law, eradication of poverty and opening up
society.
Therefore, he told the
UNDP Representative that when they come, they would learn how the Judiciary of
Tanzania has computerized the justice sectors, how have made easy the access to
justice and deal with the challenges coming in.
“I can assure you that we
believe in open access to information. All our court decisions are available
online through TanzLII, all our reports are available online and you can access
our programs and everything, because we believe that if the citizens are
informed about our activities, we are going to place them in the better use of
court access,” he said.
Judicial officers who
were also available during the session were Principal Judge of the High Court
of Tanzanian, Hon Dr, Mustapher Mohamed Siyani, the Registrar of the Court of
Appeal of Tanzania, Hon. George Herbert, Personal to the Chief Justice, Hon.
Venance Mlingi and Personal Assistant to the Principal Judge, Hon. Aidan
Mwilapwa.
Judicial officials from the Judiciary of Tanzania, who attended the session. From right is the Principal Judge of the High Court of Tanzanian, Hon Dr, Mustapher Mohamed Siyani, Chief Court Administrator Prof. Elisante Ole Gabriel and the Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, Hon. George Herbert. The picture below is the UNDP delegation.
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