“Our country is heading for the general election for president, members of parliament and councillors. We expect the elections will be free and fair. But, as in previous elections, there could be petitions against the results,” the president said.
He noted that in previous occasions such petitions had been taking too long to be disposed of from one election to another, thus defeating the whole purpose for one to pursue his rights through the judicial process.
“I am happy to see that this trend was changed in the last general election. Petitions were given priority and disposed of swiftly. It is my appeal to you that the spirit should be maintained.
If there will be such cases they should be determined early to ensure justice is sustained,” the president said. He also directed the judiciary to remain focused in dispensing justice to the people, considering its role in maintaining peace and security in the country.
The president stressed that improvement of the judiciary, among three pillars of the state, was a must. According to him, he is leaving the judiciary in a better position than what it was in 2005.
However, he said, the task to continue improving services was going on to meet expectations of the people and was hopeful that the intended objectives would be achieved if the current speed and spirit would be maintained.
“If this pace is maintained, in the next five years, I do not see why we should not have the best court system we all dream to have in the country or the best that the country is supposed to have,” the president pointed out.
Earlier, the Chief Justice, Chande Othman, presented a recognition award to the president in honour of his contribution to the judiciary, notably for his improvement of democracy in Tanzania, respect and defending the Constitution, improve good governance and increasing speed of justice delivery process.
“This honour will be a memory for good relationship you have recorded with the judiciary, which will be adopted by the next phase governments,” the CJ said.
He seized the opportunity to account for initiatives taken by President Kikwete and his government in supporting the judiciary.
According to him, the president took deliberate measures to ensure the judiciary improved its services to the people, including making major appointments of judges both at the Court of Appeal and High Court and increase the budgetary allocation for the institution.
He revealed that for the period he remained in power, President Kikwete appointed a total of 94 judges, overriding the records made by the First, Second and Third Phase governments.
He said that in 2005 there were only nine Court of Appeal justices, but now there are 16 justices, including two Chief Justices.
For the High Court level, the CJ said that in 2005 there were 35 judges only. “As we bid you farewell today, you leave the High Court with 84 judges,” he pointed out.
He also revealed that gender balance was also considered in such appointments as the number of women judges has increased by 41 per cent.
On part of resident magistrates, the CJ told the president that at the time he gained power there were only 151 of them, but currently the number had increased to 670 and Judicial Service Commission was in process of recruiting 142 more in the near future, making a total of 812 before October 2015.
Regarding budget allocation, he said, in 2005 the government had allocated a sum of 36.6bn/- for the 2005/2006 financial year, but after the fourth phase government entering into power, such allocation has been improved significantly up to 89.9bn/- in the 2015/2016 financial year.
“That is an increase of 143 per cent within 10 years period. We must admit before you and the public that judicial services in many areas have been improved at a reasonable standard comparing to previous 10 years,” Justice Othman said.
/Daily News.
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