By DELPHINE ZULU –

A LUSAKA lawyer has submitted that the Judiciary must come up with a time frame for delivering judgments for cases in all courts to regain the lost public confidence.
Kelvin Bwalya, who appeared before the Frederick Chomba-led Legal and Justice Sector Reforms Commission yesterday at the Lusaka civic centre, said many cases had dragged on for years without any judgments.
“If justice is to be seen to be done, I think it should start with delivering of judgments on time, a case is allowed to go on trial for three to four years, judgment will also take another five years at the expense of a suspect rotting in jail, this is unacceptable, hence the backlog of cases, we need a time frame,” Mr Bwalya said.
Mr Bwalya proposed that judges should be allowed to deliver judgments within three months saying this trend would help reduce the number of cases.
He also submitted that an independent body should appoint judges based on performance and not qualifications, saying some jobs needed performance-based scrutiny before taking up office as evidenced by those failing to write judgments.
Mr Bwalya said judges should also be trained before taking up office to avoid failure in performing their duties.
He said the judiciary must establish offices and send permanent judges to various stations other than the current circuiting system, which was expensive.
Mr Bwalya also submitted that there was no law that barred reporters from going to court with cameras, saying having cameras in court would put pressure on judges and magistrates to speed up the court cases, as more people would monitor proceedings.
He said journalists should also be allowed to analyse the witnesses’ evidence once presented in court because it would have became public, according to the Criminal Procedure Code.
Mr Bwalya submitted that all those holding senior positions in the judiciary should be compelled to declare their assets as one way of combating corruption.
“Like this, judges, the DPP and others will be able to be transparent and no one would accuse them of being corrupt because everything owned could be traced and accounted for within their tenure of office, he said.
And another petitioner, Geoffrey Samusungwa, a former member of the Police Public Complaints Authority (PPCA), said the judiciary should establish an independent court to handle election petitions because prolonging them rendered the cases as an academic exercise.
He also submitted that the marriage Act should be revised to include the criminality aspect of those perpetrating early marriages.