.Chibesakunda

KAIKO NAMUSA –

ACTING Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda has welcomed and implored the new Law Association Zambia (LAZ) executive council members to lobby for the introduction of the Court-of-Appeal.
Ms Justice Chibesakunda said the lawyers were important partners in the dispensation of justice in the country.
“For our programmes to succeed, we really need all the major stakeholders such as LAZ on board and the Judiciary cannot function well without the Bar,” she said.
She said the judiciary and the LAZ members needed to supplement each other’s efforts and called for openness to suggestions from both parties.
Ms Justice Chibesakunda said this when the LAZ executive members called on her at her office in Lusaka.
She appealed to the new LAZ executive council members to consider lobbying for the introduction of the Court-of- Appeal before court cases could be referred to the Supreme Court.
She said that some court cases needed to be handled directly by the Court-of-Appeal, if introduced, in order to give chance to the Supreme Court to be the Court for refining and shaping the law.
In her congratulatory remarks to the new LAZ council members, she said the LAZ council had come at the time when the judiciary in Zambia was about to introduce court circuiting for the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) starting with Solwezi before rolling-out  to other towns.
“Considering the high level of labour issues emerging, the cost involved for potential litigants to access justice in Ndola and Lusaka, it’s much easier for the court to move to litigants’ places,” she said.
And the new LAZ executive council has pledged continuous interaction between the Bar and the Bench.
LAZ president, George Chisanga said his institution recognised the importance of the Court-of-Appeal and accepted to take up the challenge of lobbying for the consideration of the creation of the Court-of-Appeal.