By Patience Lunda:
Chief Justice (CJ) Rizine Mzikamanda has said access to justice in rural areas continues to be a challenge because of shortage of staff such as magistrates and court clerks.
Mzikamanda said the development has forced some officers to be doing tasks they were not employed for.
For instance, he said, court marshals are working as court clerks, messengers and guards—which is not supposed to be the case in an ideal situation.
“You hardly find court clerks in rural courts and those who are working as court clerks are also court marshals and the same people are responsible for other things such as looking after the court.
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“We need additional staff at the Judiciary,” Mzikamanda said in Mzuzu City during the launch of Northern Region Wellness Programme for Judiciary Workers.
Mzikamanda said in Chitipa District, for example, two out of six courts have no magistrates.
He also gave the example of the situation in Karonga District, where three courts have no magistrates, a development he faulted for negatively affecting service delivery.
Mzikamanda then said the idea behind the launch of the wellness programme is to ensure that workers’ physical and mental wellbeing are taken care of.
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The CJ said this would culminate in improved productivity in the Judiciary.
On her part, Mercy Kishombe, who is the region’s acting community service officer, said they need to be in good shape if they are to handle cases effectively.
“We deal with a lot of cases and the cases are of a different nature. We meet people of different cultures and behaviors and we need to be prepared for that, which is why we think this wellness programme is beneficial,” she said.
The wellness programme is also being implemented in the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe.
