Justice under scrutiny as CDEDI wants accountable judiciary

By IOMMIE CHIWALO

Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has risen to the occasion in joining multitudes questioning suspicious Supreme Court ruling on the defunct Finance Bank.

In a press statement made available to this publication, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa is demanding justification from the Judiciary to account for the 21-year delay before coming up with the judgement.

“The scenario is as good as rewarding the Court for its inefficiencies on one hand, while on the other hand it brings to light a serious problem where judicial officers sit on rulings for ages for no apparent reason. Therefore, the Supreme Court should not be allowed to benefit from their 21-year deep slumber on the FCB matter,” says Namiwa.

It is important to note that National Budget is pegged at MK8 trillion, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) collects around MK4 trillion in taxes. In order to sustain its day-to-day service provision to the people, Treasury depends on domestic and external borrowing and that public debt has ballooned to around MK32 trillion from MK4 trillion in June 2020.

CDEDI now compelling the registrar of the High Court to rally behind Malawians, who are literary struggling to survive, not pay for this immoral ruling that overlooked the spirit and wording of Section 12 of the Republican Constitution that, among other things, states that both legal and political authority derives from the people of Malawi and those exercising the same should do so solely to serve and protect public interest.

“Thus far, CDEDI would like to state that judicial independence cannot, and should not, be construed that judicial officers should not be held accountable for their actions. Needless to remind all and sundry that, just like the Executive and the Legislature arms of government, those in the Judiciary, too, are financed by our taxes,” he says.

Comments from CDEDI are partially in agreement with what Malawi Law Society has published confirming that it is constrained to comment on the conduct of the highly learned judges saying what they have produced in written form is not a “clear judgement”.

Namiwa has since appealed to Malawians to never feel afraid in questioning dubious court rulings and, where possible, demand corrective measures to those that fall short of serving public interests.

“When all is said and done, we need to have a candid discussion on how to stump out corruption in our judicial system that in most cases favours the rich and those that are politically-connected, leaving the poor to rot in our congested jails.

To set the pace CDEDI, hereby challenges all judicial officers to account for the ruling backlog where it is alleged some judges are sitting on as many as 300 rulings,” he says.

The CDEDI Executive Director has also challenged both Parliament and the Judicial Service Commission to name-and-shame those officers who are sitting on judgements.

“It is disheartening to note that the judicial system in Malawi is not cognizant of the notion that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ and, by extension, ‘justice is for sale in Malawi’.”

The FCB payout has reignited debate over the retirement age of judicial officers—at 70—when everyone else in the civil service is retiring at 60.

On retirement age and in the spirit of fairness, CDEDI demands that powers that be revisits this matter for the sake of levelling the playing field.

“Without mincing words, the unpatriotic ruling on the FCB matter has brought to light a debate as to whether this is the continuation of what President Peter Mutharika branded ‘a judicial coup’ where the Constitutional Court smuggled the 50-plus-1 determination of the presidential race as a ploy to stop a particular candidate to win the June 20 2020 fresh election,” queries Namiwa.