By BRIAN HATYOKA-
VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott has said the Government has underpinned its desire to uphold the separation of powers by ensuring an independent Judiciary.
Dr Scott said yesterday that Zambia was doing well in the area of judicial independence as the Government did not interfere in the operations of the Judiciary.
Speaking when he officially opened the 18th Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges’ Association (CMJA) annual conference in Livingstone, Dr Scott said the three arms of Government – the Judiciary, legislature and Executive were operating independently in the country.
“In the area of judicial independence, we are doing well as a country as the three arms of Government, namely, Legislature, Executive and Parliament are working independently without any interference,” the Vice-President said.
In terms of promoting gender balance, Dr Scott said Zambia was doing well because more than 50 per cent of women were occupying key positions in the Judiciary and other sectors.
He, however, wondered why many women were sidelined by political parties to contest for parliamentary seats.
The theme for the three-day conference is ‘judicial independence: The challenges of the modern era’.
Speaking earlier, acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda said judicial Independence was a hard-earned value that was cardinal to the promotion and protection of justice.
Ms Justice Chibesakunda said judicial independence was also an incentive for economic development by promoting investor confidence in the judicial system.
She also said the Judiciary needed to courageously address corruption, which had proved to be a huge challenge to the promotion and protection of judicial independence.
“Bribes corrupt the mind of an adjudicator and compromise judicial independence and diminish the reputation and integrity of the Judiciary,” Ms Justice Chibesakunda said.
“Corruption by one adjudicator affects the standing of the whole Judiciary.”
CMJA president John Vertes said his association was committed to promoting the rule of law and had provided a forum to discuss judicial issues of concern.
Meanwhile, Dr Scott has called for an effective legal framework aimed at curbing the increasing cases of early marriages.
Dr Scott said the current laws were inadequate to fight early marriages, a problem that was escalating to worrying proportions in Zambia and Africa.
He said the Government’s efforts were clear, that there still remained a lot more that could be done to deal with early marriages.
“As Government, we are trying to fight early marriages but the problem is still on the increase,” Dr Scott said.
“We are, therefore, asking the Judiciary to help come up with appropriate laws to fight the scourge,” he said.