By Pemphero Malimba:
Chief Justice (CJ) Rizine Mzikamanda has said the Judiciary shall continue to be efficient in handling election disputes.
Mzikamanda said this in Lilongwe Wednesday during a debriefing session of the Supreme Court of Appeal on the management of election cases.
“We, as the Judiciary, remain professional, independent and impartial in solving election disputes in accordance with the law. We have picked on Kenya as a country that has a global impact on electoral matters. As such, it [Kenya] is a partner to do exchanges with,” Mzikamanda said.
He said the Judiciary is satisfied with the way it handled disputes in relation to previous elections, including 2019 polls that culminated in the holding of the court-ordered June 23 2020 presidential election.
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“On our part, we have done well in managing election disputes but we believe that there are other things we can do to improve,” Mzikamanda said.
He disclosed that the Judiciary is in the process of collecting reports on election cases that were taken to court in previous years.
“We have identified the need to put together law reports—cases that happened—so that we have consistency in the way we handle the cases.
“When we have all the reports of the cases by December this year, and digest those, we will also help all other courts to be consistent when handling electoral dispute cases,” the CJ said.
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He added that the Judiciary has established a special committee that will help in effectively addressing election-related issues.
“There is a lesson we learnt in Kenya—[to the effect] that we need an internal Judiciary election committee to be able to advise on how we manage the cases that come. This is an extremely important committee that will help us to follow the path that we want in as far as resolving election dispute cases is concerned,” Mzikamanda said.
Chifundo Kachale
Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) Chairperson Judge Chifundo Kachale said the event provided the Judiciary with the opportunity to reflect on how it handled 2019 election cases and see whether there is room for improvement.
“We believe that this particular forum provides the very unique opportunity where the Judiciary can sit down and reflect on how they performed last time around and [see] what measures can be taken to create some improvements in managing electoral disputes,” Kachale said.
The event attracted Mec officials, judges, justices and officials from the Judiciary of Kenya.
