Appointment of Judges met with mixed reactions

Dar es Salaam. The appointment of seven Court of Appeal justices and 21 High Court judges is an apparent bid to improve efficiency in the administration of justice in the country, legal experts said yesterday.

Lawyers, who spoke to The Citizen, said with a backlog of files at the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) during the past few years, some suspects may have been denied justice hence the President’s decision.

In her address to Parliament on April 22, this year, President Samia Suluhu Hassan promised to improve the judiciary by increasing the number of judges and magistrates as well as promoting the use of Informational Communication Technology (ICT) to speed up the hearing of cases.

“I want the judiciary to focus on the delivery of justice. We will also strengthen other justice institutions including the Office of the Attorney General, DPP, Police, Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) and Prisons,” she said.

True to that, on May 11, this year, President Hassan appointed seven justices for the Court of Appeal and 21 judges - including the DPP, Mr Biswalo Mganga - as Judges of the High Court in a move that signalled changes in the administration of justice in the country.

Mr Mganga came into the top prosecution office in 2014, prominently featured in the judicial publicity as he supervised the anti-money laundering and handling of grand corruption related cases which saw prominent traders and officials charged with the non-bailable money laundering and economic sabotage.

The executive director and policy analyst at the Tanzania Citizens’ Information Bureau, Mr Deus Kibamba, told The Citizen that through the appointments, the President was responding to the shortage of judges in the country and simultaneously, improving the judicial value chain by making some changes at the DPP’s office.

“In my opinion she is not satisfied with the speed of justice delivery in the office and if she had been satisfied then she would not have made the changes. She also wants to remove the common word in our courts where every time when people ask about a particular case, the response is that the files were still in the DPP’s office,” he said.

Mr Kibamba added perhaps the President might also be trying to bring new faces at the office of the DPP to align with her aspirations regarding delivery of justice in the legal system.

“On several occasions, she has been saying that people should not be kept in remand prison for a long time so it’s clear she wants to increase efficiency in the delivery of justice,” he said.

Former Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) president Rugemeleza Nshala said basically the number of judges that were appointed was still lower compared to those who have retired.

“Tanzania has a larger population compared to the available judges and recently the court asked the President to increase the number of judges.”

Like Mr Kibamba, Dr Nshala said changes at the DPP office could signify that the President wants to see changes.

The executive director for the Legal and Human Rights Center (LHRC), Ms Anna Henga, said the appointment of the DPP as a judge was not a promotion but a demotion.

“That is not promotion but a demotion because the DPP’s office is created in accordance with the law that makes him independent. It shows that he failed to use it and that is why there have been many complaints from the public, “said Ms Henga.

“Judges despite being addressed as honorables, their decision can be challenged at any time by another judge. They work under the Chief Justice and the Judicial Commission. Although the President cannot remove them, a Judge does not have as much power as the DPP,” she said.

However, this is not the first time that someone who occupied the office of the DPP is appointed High Court judge. Former DPP, Dr Eliezer Feleshi was also appointed High Court Judge before he was later promoted to the post of Principal Judge of the High Court of Tanzania.

Former Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) President Fatuma Karume had a different view of the appointment saying the decision by the President to appoint the DPP and other three officials from his office as High Court Judges was an indication that she was satisfied with the work they had done and therefore promoted them to a higher level.

“In my view appointing them as High Court Judges is a promotion,” she said.

Another former TLS president Tundu Lissu said the Head of State was not precluded from appointing any qualified person to be judge for the simple reason that the appointee is an employee of the DPP’s office.

“What matters for the purposes of judicial appointments is the qualifications as stipulated in the Constitution, not the employment status of the appointee,” he said.