Central Zone seriously short of judges

THE Central Zone High Court in Dodoma faces a shortage of Judges – a situation that has led to a pile-up of cases. Until December, last year, there was a backlog of 1,364 pending trials with only two Judges available.

The High Court Judge in charge of the Central Zone, Crecencia Makuru, said here recently that though the zone covers only two regions (Dodoma and Singida) the number of judges remains 'too small.'

"Until December 31, last year, there was a total of 1,364 pending trials with only two Judges at hand in the zone," he said.

"The number of pending cases  is too high for two Judges. This situation contributes to delay in the disposal of cases. So, there is a need to increase the number of Judges so as to cope with this highly demanding situation,” he said. 

He also said that the number of magistrates is equally small. Some districts have only one magistrate despite having a large number of pending trials. The situation becomes even more critical when the magistrate falls sick or goes on his or her annual leave.

He added that a number of primary courts in the zone have no permanent magistrate. They depend on magistrates posted at other courts of law. This means magistrates have to travel long distances to these courts, a situation that is seen as strenuous.

Judge Makuru also suggested that allowances for court counsellors be increased from the current 1,500/- per trial to 5,000/-.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that in a move aimed at addressing the shortage of magistrates, the government will this financial year, employ 300 who will be allocated in various courts. The number is an addition of 300 others who were employed in the previous financial year (2012/13).

The Acting Director of Policy and Planning in the Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs, Mr Emmanuel Mayeji, said recently that the government was also committed to improving training programmes for lawyers.

"The shortage of magistrates is going down at a promising rate since last year when we started massive recruitment and our plan is to continue with the exercise until the problem becomes history," he said.

He noted that this was part of the fulfilment of the objectives of the ministry's Legal Sector Reform Programme (LSRP) which aims at speedy dispensation of justice, affordability and access to justice for all social groups, integrity and professionalism of legal officers.

It also emphasised on enhanced independence of the judiciary and a legal and regulatory framework and jurisprudence of high standards responsive to social, political, economic and technological trends at both national and international levels.

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