Kikwete: Justice should be readily available to all

JK says there is a need to address issues like adequacy of laws, rules and regulations.PHOTO|FILE 

By Athuman Mtulya The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

“I believe, with a good number of women judges in our high judicial offices our justice system is in good hands. Fortunately, they have not let me down.

Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete said yesterday that it was unfortunate that Tanzanians, 50 years after independence, still grappled with equality issues in accessing justice.

President Kikwete made the remarks when opening the 12th biennial international conference of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) in Arusha.

He noted in his speech made available to The Citizen that the challenge was not only for Tanzania but for most other countries, whose representatives were participating in the conference.

“Let us together keenly reflect on these issues, the efforts we have made so far in addressing them and the way forward,” he said.

He said there is a need to address issues like adequacy of laws, rules and regulations that govern administration of justice, sufficiency of manpower, infrastructure and resources to dispense justice as well as ethics and attitude of the legal staff as well as the society towards justice.

“It is unfortunate that most of the above issues remain as huge challenges in our societies -- particulary in relation to accessing justice,” he said.

President Kikwete said the forum had the task of tackling these difficult questions and provide solutions to them.

In a bid to tackle the challenges, he said, the government has come up with a number of programmes, including expanding judiciary manpower.

He said that in 2005, Tanzania had 45 Judges, out of whom, 10 were women. Currently, there are 78 Judges among who 30 are women.

“I believe, with a good number of women judges in our high judicial offices our justice system is in good hands. Fortunately, they have not let me down.

“I’m aware that a good number of our regional and zonal registries which are manned by women judges provide good exemples of dedication, hard work and quality output. I commend them all for the work very well done,” said the President.

Other efforts have been directed towards institutional rehabilitation, whereas 17 High Court buildings have been erected in a bid to ensure the institution is present in every region in the country, whereby he said four more structures would be completed in this year.