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- Sep 20, 2021
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01.INTRODUCTION.
A case or suit is the contra-verse or misunderstandings between the two or more parties.Therefore parties are the one who bring the case to the particular legal institution, therefore parties and the case are two sides of the same coin.This means that one of them determine the presence of another. However, the party which demand the right and institute the case is termed as "PLAINTIFF" and the party which is alleged of an offense is termed as "DEFENDANT".
However, the suits brought before the court may either be civil or criminal cases.However, the two may be distinguished regarding the extend of proving its existence and pointing out its elements.In criminal case , the facts should be proved beyond reasonable doubt while in civil cases the facts should be proved at the balance of probabilities.Generally, in Tanzania the institution of cases involves different legal documents including but not limited to charge sheet, plaint and written submissions.Furthermore, the lowest institution to institute the suit is a tribunal for example ward tribunal, and upon dissatisfaction then parties have the right to go ahead into the primary court and other courts in chain.
02. DELAY OF THE CASE.
Delay of the case refers to the prolonged duration of which the case is pending determination.Once the parties institute the case, their expectations is to get their rights within a short time.But unfortunately the parties wait the decision for a very long time and hence find themselves wasting most of the time, financial loss as well as the suspects suffering under restrains.Therefore, this problem is very huge in Tanzania due to the different reasons which may be contributory reasons, procedural reasons as well as the legal personnel including judges behaviors.
(a)Contributory reasons towards the delay of cases in Tanzania involves the parties and community itself which play part in hindering the judicial process including the investigation process as well as testifying before the court of law.The majority of Tanzania citizens they fear and are scared of Legal processes being conducted in our country the reason being if they will testify the case may turn into them.However section 10(1) of the Criminal procedure Act empower the police officer to conduct the investigation against the crime, some of the people are not showing the good cooperation during the investigation process since the suspect is their relative.And this problem is highly noticed in the criminal cases in which the majority are hiding the suspects regarding that the suspect is their uncle,father,mother or any other relatives.
(b)Procedural delay involves the complicated procedures which consume a lot of time for the case to reach its end.For example Murder cases in Tanzania are only tried by the High court after receiving the particulars of the case from the district court which is responsible to gather all the information about the charge.This procedure however is consuming a lot of time since the district court is only helping the High court which is responsible to determine the matter.
(c)Irresponsibility of judicial officers.In Tanzania many judicial officers contribute in delaying the determination of cases before them and this is because it is very difficult for them to be punished.How is difficult for them to be punished is because the President should first consult the Judicial service commission before removing that official.Therefore the officers are lazy and decide cases whatever they want and under whatever time due to this reason hence delaying of the case.
(d) Little number of judicial officers.Our courts and tribunals experience a very small number of the servants like judges and magistrates.For instance in many of our District courts a single magistrate is waged with more than 400 cases per year.This is very difficult for a single person to try them exactly.
03.CONSEQUENCES OF THE DELAY OF THE CASE.
In addressing the impacts of the delay, let us pass through Article 13(6)(b) of the Union Constitution,1977 as amended time to time which provides that "no person charged with a criminal offence shall be treated guilty until proved guilty of such an offence". Therefore the point here is proving the suspect guilt, and we cannot prove the suspect guilty until the evidence is collected and the investigation is done.However the question is at what time those processes will be accomplished?
The delay of legal proceedings in our Tanzania court system brought many negative impacts to the right seeker and the courts itself.The rights seeker (The parties) use most of their financial resources including money to attend the court, securing the attendance of their witness as well as paying for their advocates.Also the suspects of unbaiable offenses as per section 148(5)A of the Criminal Procedure Act, suffer in the custody for a long time waiting for the investigation to be done as if they are found guilty.Not all offenders charged with offenses get the required punishment some of them due to this problem of delay in criminal investigation they get acquitted by the court since there is no enough evidence to prove their crimes .The courts itself also suffer from the large number of undecided cases which are pending trial.And however the decisions made are not proper since are made very quickly due to the large number of cases.Further more the delay of cases in our court systems results into improper, irrational and impropriety legal judgements simply because the Judge due to the wasted time decide the case more quickly without regard to the provisions of the law.
Mental and Physical affection of the suspects due to the improper treatment by the police officer during the long restrains.Many suspects after being taken into court alleges that while in the custody for a such long particular moment they are beaten, harassed as well as subjected to torture but this is due to the delay of the proceedings.A good example may be noticed in the High court case of Republic v. Tabu Msomi (1993); in which the person accused spent 10 years under custody and later released from prison.The accused was charged with murder on 1993 and later committed to the High court in 1997, the case then postponed or adjourned due to incomplete investigation 3 years later and then the accused person released since they found having no case to answer.This try to show how the delay of cases made people suffer on their rights.
04.MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN COMBATING THE PROBLEM OF DELAY OF THE CASE.
In combating this problem the people should be educated on the importance of showing cooperation to the legal institution when the same is necessary,some legal procedures should be minimized or removed to make sure that the judgement are given within the time, lazy judicial officers should be punished in accordance with the laws so as to work effectively.
And also the use of alternative dispute resolution methods should be emphasized.Alternative dispute resolution encompasses arbitration, mediation, conciliation, and other methods-short of formal litigation-for resolving disputes. Alternative dispute resolution offers several advantages over a lawsuit. It is less adversarial and in some cases can be faster and less expensive. It can also reduce court workloads. Therefore by using these methods parties are free to solve their differences out of the court and get their rights instead of waiting for the long time in a court.
Increasing the number of judicial officers in our court systems.This is another measure to be taken in which more judicial officers should be increased in the courts so as to make sure that justice is given within a time and also proper judgement are made.However this will make the officers enjoy their works hence increasing their effectiveness and efficiency.Therefore this is going together with employing the new officers who will replace the retired officers in the court system.Many post and under-graduate students are hanging in the streets with their certificates showing good performance but their efforts are useless by the government.
05.GENERAL OPINION PERTAINING THE OVERALL TEXT ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF DELAY OF THE CASE.
The delay of cases in our court system dispute the gorgeous objective of our legal institutions of making sure that right for the deserved one are provided within a reasonable time .The parties instead of being happy finds themselves sad because the process takes a couple of years until the decisions are made, that's why people they prefer to take laws in theirs hands and kill their offenders including thieves.
Therefore the only solution to reduce the improper undertakings by the majority is for the legal institutions to make sure that decisions are given within the legal time framework and not consuming a lot of time.However, the more emphasis should be placed on criminal cases which are the main causative agents of the delay due to its complicated procedures.
