By SARAH MWANZA –
Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) has suggested Parliament should consider constitutional amendments to allow Supreme Court judges sit as the Constitutional Court when a constitutional matter is filed before it.
YALI governance advisor Isaac Mwanza explained that such an arrangement would help remove the current arrangement which required separate judges at the Constitutional Court when there were already qualified judges at the Supreme Court.
Mr Mwanza said for the public to better appreciate the work of the Judiciary, necessary reforms should be made to further open up the courts to the public.
“For instance, the media must be allowed to freely cover live proceedings from the courts and analyse them without having to worry about contempt charges,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwanza has condemned opposition political parties for continued attacks on judges handling political cases.
He said it was disheartening to hear political parties condemning the Judiciary whenever it passed judgment against them.
He said YALI was aware that no government institution was immune to criticism but urged that those voicing displeasure with decisions of the courts did so in the right spirit.
Mr Mwanza said in Yali’s view, all the courts had performed well in handling civil and criminal cases before them with the High Court performing exceptionally in its adjudication of political cases such as Parliamentary petitions.
“We have no doubt the Supreme Court is in good hands with Chief Justice Irene Mambilima in whom the public still place a lot of confidence,” he said.
He said his organisation was looking forward to the the Court of Appeals becoming operational.