By Lake Zone Watch Reporter
Vice President Dr Philip Mpango has challenged the Judiciary to seriously review and reduce the costs involved in the delivery of the justice process, particularly in hearing and determining criminal cases.
Opening a three-day work session attended by senior members of the Judiciary including judges here yesterday, the Vice President said the public is unhappy with some costs they are forced to incur when seeking their rights, and called for the matter to be fully addressed.
He, however, commended the ongoing reforms within the Judiciary in which a number of improvements in service delivery have been effected, but said a lot needs to be done to justify the adage: “Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.”
“There still are some corruption elements as perceived by the public that must be addressed and I hereby commend ongoing strategies to flush them out of the judicial system,” he said.
He also asked the Judiciary to speed up implementation of its day to day functions and hearing of cases, citing the increasing application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) manned systems that are part of the ongoing reforms.
Dr Mpango emphasised on making sure primary courts are increasingly becoming accessible and are cost effective which should include installation of more mobile courts among other measures.
He challenged members of the Judiciary to use their work session to come up with deliberations and recommendations that will help the government address the existing gaps effectively.
Earlier, the Chief Justice Prof Ibrahim Hamis Juma said some challenges still existed in the fight against corruption, particularly in the service delivery, pledging that the Judiciary will use the Mwanza work session to conduct self evaluation in the matter.
He was referring to the recent report by the Transparent International on the Corruption Perception Index that shows Tanzania dropping by one point, scoring 39 points in 2022 down from 38 it recorded in 2021.
“I implore all of you to use this session to conduct thorough evaluation and recheck the public perception on our services to them.We have asked the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to give us an expert guidance and consultancy in this area,” the CJ said.
On the PCCB consultancy, he said it would help the Judiciary get a wider picture on what to do to ensure more transparency and integrity during service delivery, to meet public expectations.
The Chief Justice however, said the newly Introduced Case Management System has managed to reduce the case backlog, now standing at only 6 percent as at December 2022, as opposed to 11 per cent in 2021.
Other achievements include case disposal rate from 78 percent in 2021 to 84 percent by December 2022, case clearance rate that increased from 99 percent in 2021 to 106 percent by December 2022, whereas the duration of case hearing has decreased from 119 days in 2021 to 95 days by December 2022.
Things are seen to take a better shape in the country’s judicial system, thanks to the five years USD 155m funding from the World Bank, released between 2020/2021 and the second phase set for 2024/2025 for the Judiciary Strategic Plan and Citizen Centric Project respectively.
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