Ngambo Ngali
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 17, 2009
- 3,517
- 1,359
THE Judiciary has reported a tremendous achievement in clearing the backlog of cases, determining a record 11,000 cases in less than a year starting January, this year.
The Panasonic speed in clearing the pending cases, many remaining in the court registry for between three and over ten years, comes following a new strategy where magistrates and Judges are now tasked to hear and rule specific number of cases a year.Presenting a report on a status of case clearance by the Department countrywide during the Judge In-charges conference, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary of Tanzania, Mr Ignas Kitusi said by December, last year there were 16,103 pending cases but as of November, this year 11,435 cases had already been determined.This is due to a number of reasons including commitment where registrars are also involved in hearing the cases as Judges being tasked to hear at least 220 cases a year each, he said.
According to Registrar Kitusi, despite the record achievement for the given period, the Judiciary still experiences a number of shortcomings among some Judges, Magistrates, Registrars and staff which include haphazard adjournment of cases.He said other challenges include lack of commitment, change of mindset towards Judicial services and phasing out an outdated business as usual syndrome in discharging daily duties in public service.It is due to entertaining those toxic elements that important sections like the registry are in pathetic conditions, as important records still go missing in the files and inefficiency in using modern equipment like computers.To improve the service of the department previously tarnished by corruption allegations among its officials, Mr Kitusi said a lot need to be done including evaluating performances of the Registrars and thorough inspections of the primary and district magistrates.The lower magistrates must be inspected and reports communicated while meetings on case flow management should be held at least four times a year and reports forwarded for action, he said.On case adjournment, Mr Kitusi said it was agreed that there should be a policy on governing the matter and adjournment sine die should have limits than it was the case today.Mr Kitusi also reported on the regional performance under the new reforms but was bitter on some individuals taking longer to cope with the new working spirit.Regions mentioned for slow pace in recording changes include Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Tabora, Arusha and Dodoma which had many case backlogs on a number of reasons.Chief Justice Chande Othman thanked the government for increasing the budget for the Judiciary, whose many pending demands are now being addressed with a fair allocation of the annual budget compared to the previous years.However, he said despite fair allocation of the budget which has seen 55bn/- more than last years budget, challenges still persist in the actual disbursement from the Treasury although he remained confident the matter would be addressed.He underscored the need for close supervision of human resources planning as well as self evaluation of internal operations in the Judiciary.Am happy that the department is now speaking one language in tackling the existing challenges and new strategies are important in order to improve timely discharge of justice, he said.
The Panasonic speed in clearing the pending cases, many remaining in the court registry for between three and over ten years, comes following a new strategy where magistrates and Judges are now tasked to hear and rule specific number of cases a year.Presenting a report on a status of case clearance by the Department countrywide during the Judge In-charges conference, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary of Tanzania, Mr Ignas Kitusi said by December, last year there were 16,103 pending cases but as of November, this year 11,435 cases had already been determined.This is due to a number of reasons including commitment where registrars are also involved in hearing the cases as Judges being tasked to hear at least 220 cases a year each, he said.
According to Registrar Kitusi, despite the record achievement for the given period, the Judiciary still experiences a number of shortcomings among some Judges, Magistrates, Registrars and staff which include haphazard adjournment of cases.He said other challenges include lack of commitment, change of mindset towards Judicial services and phasing out an outdated business as usual syndrome in discharging daily duties in public service.It is due to entertaining those toxic elements that important sections like the registry are in pathetic conditions, as important records still go missing in the files and inefficiency in using modern equipment like computers.To improve the service of the department previously tarnished by corruption allegations among its officials, Mr Kitusi said a lot need to be done including evaluating performances of the Registrars and thorough inspections of the primary and district magistrates.The lower magistrates must be inspected and reports communicated while meetings on case flow management should be held at least four times a year and reports forwarded for action, he said.On case adjournment, Mr Kitusi said it was agreed that there should be a policy on governing the matter and adjournment sine die should have limits than it was the case today.Mr Kitusi also reported on the regional performance under the new reforms but was bitter on some individuals taking longer to cope with the new working spirit.Regions mentioned for slow pace in recording changes include Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Tabora, Arusha and Dodoma which had many case backlogs on a number of reasons.Chief Justice Chande Othman thanked the government for increasing the budget for the Judiciary, whose many pending demands are now being addressed with a fair allocation of the annual budget compared to the previous years.However, he said despite fair allocation of the budget which has seen 55bn/- more than last years budget, challenges still persist in the actual disbursement from the Treasury although he remained confident the matter would be addressed.He underscored the need for close supervision of human resources planning as well as self evaluation of internal operations in the Judiciary.Am happy that the department is now speaking one language in tackling the existing challenges and new strategies are important in order to improve timely discharge of justice, he said.
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