By SYLVIA MWEETWA –
THE office of the Chief Justice has allowed the Kabwe High Court to hold a double session sitting next month in a bid to clear a backlog of cases committed to the High court for trial in the recent past.
Kabwe High Court Judge-in-Charge Mwiinde Siavwapa said the double session sitting, which would see Lusaka-based High Court Judge Chalwe M’chenga sitting in Kabwe would assist clear some pending cases, some from as far back as 2011.
Speaking in an interview in Kabwe, Mr Justice Siavwapa said he was happy that the Chief Justice’s office responded to the request made through the assistant registrar to have two sittings in one session which has since been gazetted.
Mr Justice Siavwapa said the sittings would see the handling of 26 cases each court and that he was hopeful that once that was done, it would bring a bit of relief to the courts.
“I can confirm that next month we will have two sittings aimed at clearing some cases because we realised as a court that we have over 80 cases awaiting trial, which have been committed to the high court from different areas within the province and we felt that we needed to request through the Chief Justice to see how best clear the cases,” he said.
He said since the High Court only had one court room, it had decided to use one of the courtrooms at the subordinate court currently being worked on.
