By Cathy Maulidi:
Up to 115 citizens have risen against the Judiciary, expressing concerns over what they claim to be injustices they have suffered at the hands of judges and magistrates.
The grouping has formed a taskforce demanding investigations into the allegations.
The group claims that corruption has become rampant within the Judiciary, with some judges and magistrates allegedly taking bribes to influence the outcome of cases.
“In our movement, we are over 800 with different cases which were also handled by different judges and magistrates.
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“We opened a window for those with complaints to submit them so that we can file them directly to the Chief Justice. At the moment I can confirm that we have received 115 complaints on different judges and magistrates,” said a member of the grouping.
In a petition to the Chief Justice, dated December 11, 2024 which Malawi News has seen, the citizens are calling for swift action to address corruption allegations concerns.
They are also demanding reforms to prevent injustices, corruption and poor service delivery in the Judiciary.
“We have decided to take it upon ourselves to combat the corruption vice and the poor service delivery in the Judiciary.
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“It is of great concern that as a country and the Judiciary, we have embraced corruption as a way of living in Malawi. Those empowered by law to combat corruption have become part of it which gives us an indication that there is no legal, nor political and neither an administrative will to combat and end corruption.
“The Judiciary has been identified as the first one to engage with, noting that the Judiciary is already on the floor in the public domain following the revelations by lawyer Alexious Kamangila. We hereby put our weight to back Kamangila with our own cases too and issues that were under wraps in the judicial system,” reads the petition.
In an interview, leader of the grouping, Charles Govati, said they also have broader issues that they want the Judiciary to address, not just the individual complaints.
“In the Malawi 2063 first 10-year implementation plan, there is no justice delivery aspect and no SDG 16 which talks about justice delivery. This is why many of us have been facing challenges when we have issues.
“If there was a serious legal framework when it
They trashed the status where the Chief Justice and the President have a role in the appointment of almost all members of the JSC.
They also faulted the composition of the JSC, saying it was dominated by legal practitioners.
“There is need for a better balance in the composition of the JSC. The proposal reconstituted JSC remains heavily dominated by members of the Judiciary which may have implications on its operational independence,” MLS argued.
