Social media mocks Chief Justice over K22m court opening – but locals say it’s life-changing

Social media users have turned on Chief Justice Rezine Mzikamanda after he personally presided over the commissioning of a K22 million rehabilitated magistrate court at Jenda in Mzimba, with critics branding the event disproportionately high-profile for what they view as a relatively modest project.

Mzikamanda commissioned the rehabilitated Jenda Magistrate Court at Levi Jere area in a ceremony the Judiciary says will bring justice services closer to more than 18,000 people across Jenda and surrounding communities.

But photographs of the country’s top judicial officer at the event have since triggered fierce debate online, with users questioning whether the project warranted the presence of such a senior figure.

One commentator, Chiukepo Lungu, mocked the spectacle outright, writing: “Guys tizikhala serious. The whole chief justice presiding over this?”

The backlash has sparked a wider debate over the visibility and priorities of senior public officials, with some arguing the Chief Justice should not personally preside over the opening of relatively modest infrastructure, while others insist bringing the head of the Judiciary to grassroots communities sends a powerful message about the institution’s commitment to access to justice.

Mzikamanda, however, stood firm in defending the project’s significance at the commissioning itself.

“It means that our plans as a judiciary will be fulfilled because people will be closer to justice,” he said.

The court is expected to have a major impact on residents who previously had to make the long trek to Mzimba just to access court services.

Chief Chibeneka Jere said the facility would prove especially vital in tackling child marriage cases, which had previously gone unaddressed or delayed due to the distance communities faced in reaching a functioning court.

The development is also set to ease significant pressure on local policing. Officer-in-charge for Jenda Police, Alexander Kaonga, revealed that officers had previously been forced to travel to Mzimba Court roughly three times a week just to handle cases – an exhausting logistical burden the new court is expected to eliminate.

Despite the online mockery focusing squarely on the mismatch between the size of the project and the seniority of the man who opened it, the Judiciary’s position is that a court’s value should never be measured by the size of its building, but by how many lives its presence transforms.

For residents of Jenda, then, the K22 million facility may represent something far bigger than the modest structure seen in the viral photographs: a court on their doorstep, less travel for police and litigants alike, and swifter access to justice for thousands who previously had none nearby.