This growing Judiciary autocracy in Malawi must be ended
There is this tendency in Malawi of some people wanting to place the Judiciary on a pedestal sort of for all of us to worship.
They want us to hold judges as some sacred beings to be treated with almost breathless respect.
You are not allowed to criticize them or to disagree with their determinations.
When they make a judgment you totally disagree with, you should just suffer in silence.
This is the creation of Judicial Autocracy and Malawians should not allow it — at any cost.
There are three arms of government: The Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Of the three, the Executive and the Legislature are attacked every day by everyone including quacks in law and drunks in civil society.
Of the three, it is the Judiciary that seems to have obtained the rights from wherever to demonize and lord over the other two at will. It rarely takes criticism kindly.
Of the three arms, it is the Judiciary that has exercised little restraint in ensuring the Constitutional independence of the other two.
No one is allowed to hold an opinion that is different from what judges think.
Or you are accused of interfering with or disrespecting the Judiciary and conspiring to defeat the ends of democracy and justice.
Nothing can be more nonsensical!
The Judiciary is by no means naturally free from any criticism or different opinion. It, too, runs on taxpayers money and it is in the firing line by anyone.
There is nothing special about Judiciary, just as there is nothing special about the Executive and Legislature.
After all, have we not seen credible reports of corruption among judges?
Have we not seen clear bias in some of their judgments?
Do we not have relations who are in jail today because of wrong sentences by some judges and magistrates?
Do we not have families that are languishing in poverty today because some judge is sitting on a judgment on their case?
Did the Anti Corruption Bureay (ACB) director Reyneck Matemba, a lawyer himself, not speak for many Malawians when he described the Judiciary as “disgusting and rotten”?
This habit of elevating the Judiciary as some immortal unit living in space should end. Malawians must end it. Malawians must stop Judicial Autocracy in this country.
The same principles of transparency and accountability that are applied on the Executive and Legislature should also be applied on the Judiciary.
And that comes in various forms including disagreeing openly and fearlessly with their judgments.
Among the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, none of them is a god.
In democracy, each one of them is available for criticism by anyone.
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A Dpp listen to the voicemail of the people. Before the Court after you were chosen, you didn’t listen to people that choose you. Instead people were segregated, corruption increased, kuzima magetsi, sewege at area 18, beating people by your thugs increased, nepotism, albino killings. Now what was Dpp alternatives. Even I wondered that it was doing that first term of their ruling. Now you will cry. Chibwana chimalanda.
A bad carpenter blames his own tools. If you fo not prepare well for the case, especially those cases where the intention is to twist justice, for sure you will always blame the judges.
Why don’t start by telling this old fool called-peter mtharika? The is siding with Dpp criminals he probably received something. Judges delivered us from criminals like jane and peter so ngati una leredwa ndi ndalama zokuba monga achitira achina dausi go to hell.
A dpp a kulera anawo ndalama zakatangale.
Our judges think they are clever but they are incompetent and corrupt. Hopefully, after the election they will be put into a box together with their masters.
I wish the election system had VAR! we’ve all seen this in real life, people scoring offside goals ( rigging elections) and celebrating like nothing happened. Kikikikiki
DPP is a syndicate ! . A Criminal organisation!
IT’S A MAFIA GOVERNMENT! operating in broad daily light.
But even Pablo Escobar had his day. Sikhu ya 40 yifika popano…. Nyekhwe yeni yeni kikikiki Alliance Boma
Your lawyers are nfundoless nchifukwa chake nonse mukulira mokweza a chipani cha angulu. Do not steal votes; do not appeal obvious things and do not personalize MEC. Mukatelo you will not have anything to complain about against the judges whose job is to interpret the law which the legislature makes and the executive enforces.
Thanks for the article and this is one of the best posted here. I get all what you have provided in the article and to me it points to the fact that the judiciary can also make mistakes, they also need to be checked and not always praise what they have done whether its mbwerere or not. These guys must now be exposed because eventhough am not a lawyer, ours are worse occupying those government positions.
The beauty of judiciary is to disagree with them by appealing. Its a pity that you are not aware of this.
The writer clearly does not understand the special role of the Judiciary as ‘a watch-dog to ensure the constitution is complied with in whatever both the Executive and Legislature do’. If the three arms were allowed to do as they please what would we have on the ground????!!!!! For transparency and accountability, we are all given a chance to read rulings and knowledgeably opine but we are not afforded the chance to scrutinize the writer’s performance or are we????!!!!!!
Parliament makes law but it’s not above the law. Executive originates the law but it’s not above the law. The judiciary interprets the law but it’s not above the Law. If anyone feels the judiciary is illegally interpreting the law take it to court. Go to the Hague and sue the judiciary.
This is one of the best articles by Nyasa Times. Thanks for the insight
One can admire your overwhelmingly talented mediocrity, no wonder this country is a downward trajectory, kkk
Very true. This is the journalism Malawi should embrace. Akuti supreme Court ikanena yanena. Are they God?
Thus sayeth the cadets!To the cadets…the Judiciary is bad just because it ruled against you?
As for most Malawinas who were crying for electoral justice …this is a victory against fraudster and nepotism masterminders!
For the cadets and DPP the script was let’s steal the elections and Malawians will gave no where to go to seek justice! Ng’ombo….ma judges anakonza!!
Then they sent the master briber…the one who owns the Mulhako bank…another ng’ombo!!
Eish…pano ndi awa akukuwawa! From the youngest cadet to the oldest…the one who stole the vote!
For the 62% of Malawians who did not vote for DPP the judiciary are our heroes….zanu izo! Auzeni agogo anu aikepo ma cadets chabwino!!
Only fools will vote for the DPP-UDF family Alliance. Only fools and thieves don’t see the need for the change.
Ironically there are many fools surpassing the clever ones who will vote for UDF/DPP .
Yes, we will vote for DPP and UDF and those who are stupid and who dont know about their history will vote for MCP. U have no idea what u r talking about. A country ruled by MCP for 31 solid years without opposition and could not make Malawi a better place to live. Anzawo, just came into power and have opened all these things u r even enjoying, freedom of speech, etc…Your colleagues have ruled this country with oppositions, not one but many but able to do developments that have been acknowedged. Ufulu wanu pano its because of amenewa mukuti oipawo, and you support them, u r a big fool
@Cairo you washed your brain with surf. Kkkkk
Inuso nde sukulu sinakupindulileni ndithu
Adzaona polekela one day atavulidwa zipewazo ndikusambisidwa mtope.
Quite simple: do not break the law or circumvent the law then all will be well. The courts do not go sniffing for cases, they are brought to them by the State and those aggrieved. It is unfair to blame them. Osabera mavoti because you create this situation
The opposition is praising the judiciary because it ruled in their favour but what we saw was indeed judicial dictatorship. Judges are just as human as everyone else and regarding them as angels is wrong.
Don’t take your case to court
So are president’s not human ? Are president’s above the law. Is that what your telling me ?
No one is above the law. The judiciary upholds the law and the constitution, therefore is supreme over other arms of the government. This is why decisions by the courts are laws by precedence.
The author seems not to agree with the recent judgements by the Concourt and Supreme Court, hence the article. But all over the world judgements by the courts are respected by all parties.
The author seems to lack knowledge of the constitution which is above every arm of the government. The constitution upholds the rule of law as the supreme. The judges are independent and ensures that the rule of law is upheld, therefore superior to other arms of the government. That is why what is decided by the Supreme Court is law on its own and has to be respected by all parties. The other arms can decide on anything, but the decision can be nullified by the courts.
The author seems to join the bandwagon that undermines the recent judgements by the Concourt and Supreme Court. This is pathetic
It sounds to me as though you, Tito, read the constitution and went through the passages of supremacy of the rule of law. However, unfortunately \, you didn’t understand anything about the rule of law
Our judges are corrupt and less experienced.
Concourt and Supreme Court rulings have shown that we do not have a critical legal field in Malawi. In other countries, lawyers would have come forward with critiques of the judgements (positive and negative). In Malawi, we had everyone quiet and a some thugs of lawyers gagging the Malawi Law Society
I know the author is so pissed off like Peter Mutharika who up to now insists he won the May 2019 election.
This shows how inept APM is. He has been cheated by the Mullis, Mpinganjiras, Getrudes, et al of this world to bury his head in the sand instead of taking charge of the nation and being on top of new developments.
The Malawi judiciary is a toast to the world due to its two verdicts in the elections case. Check on one of the websites e.g. http://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/05/malawi. It emphatically states that Malawi judiciary has broken ranks with peers in Southern Africa. It showers praise on case analysis, findings and judgment.
APM should recall that we entered multiparty dispensation with the First Past The Post (FPTP) system of electing our presidents. But this was soon found lacking in the sense that a president can be elected with even 30% or even less depending on the number of presidential candidates. With tribal groupings and regional sentiments in the country, it meant only the tribes with larger populations would be running this country forever. I remember one stupid politician publicly announcing that the North shall not produce any president in this country.
We therefore decided that we ammend this law to provide for the 50+1 system so that whoever becomes the president should have more than 50% of the votes. A Special Law Commission was set up to facilitate the process.
The Bill was drafted and passed all the review stages until it reached APM’s cabinet. There he and his clonies, the Attorney General, the then Minister of Justice and his top executives desecrated set up a scheme to frustrate the final stages of the Bill. Actually some of us warned APM that what he did would come to haunt him. APM bought and was supported by the money vultures masquerading as MPs and shot the Bill down.
So the Concourt and SCA saw this and that it why you will note that in the Judgement the SCA emphasizes that there was no winner in the presidential election.
It is sad that APM has forgotten.. The bad things men do will always come to haunt them
Totally agree. People think that the judiciary is supreme and judges are saints. They are not. In fact, Malawi judges are 5th grade, incompetent and corrupt.
You mean DPP cadet. Thom P. Your talking about him right ?
Kumeneko kunali kulira kwa akuchimuna.
Kumeneko kunali kulira kwa akuchimuna.
The judiciary has standards and they also follow international standards. You must understand that the judiciary provides remedies where there is a misunderstanding between parties and has branches that look at criminal cases and civil cases. Can you please tell us what a country would be like without the judiciary. Look at the way the previous governments have been behaving. The constitution is what makes any nation. There is no citizen that is above the law including the president himself. When a president takes an oath, he or she promises to oblige to the constitution. If one is in disagreement he or takes the matter to the courts that interprets provisions of the constitution. If one does not want to abide by the constitution they he or must choose another place where he can live. This is what Malawians chose and it was never imposed on us. We must understand that for one to change the constitution, there must attain a two thirds majority vote in parliament or through an national referendum. I am a layman in this subject matter but we must accept any decision by the courts and that is why there is also an appeal process and procedure.
We have suffered alot with the Executive such as the president receiving bribe of Mk145million, the Legislators receiving bribe of Mk200,000 each not to pass 50+1% amended bills then it’s only the Judiciary which has demonstrated patriotic of refusing to accept Mk100million bribe from Thom Mpinganjira that’s why we are praising them.
Long live the 12 judges from concourt to supreme Court in Malawi standing for the truth.
I like this article. Checks and balances among the three arms of government. The judges aren’t angels at all
THATS what happens when any organisation is led by TUMBUKAS it becomes AOUTOCTARATIC .
Look, someone has been living under the rock. Abdul Razack has mental issues.
Kungoti atumbuka akakhala pamalo zakatangalezi salora amafuna chilungamo chiyende ngati madzi. Ukamfune wina oti azalorele kuononga dziko coz of katangale no tumbuka led organisation will be part of that.
The writer is only exposing his IGNORANCE about this arm of government. This arm of government exercises its functions, duties and powers independent of any influence or direction by any person or authority. Its the only arm that prescribes qualifications of judicial officer (judges). Judges can be removed by the president for incompetence or misconduct but must follow due process. Muluzi (UDF) tried at one but failed. What are you looking if controls are there?
Custodians of the law, and have dispensed it brilliantly. One of the best judiciary in the world as evidenced by numerous international praises. Did you say Malawians must end it? Yes Malawians will end mulakho nepotism in the biggest NYEKHWE coming.
Mwagwanayo achimwene lembani nkhani ina, ine sindinamvepo ma judge atayima pachulu mkumanena “kuti don’t criticise us”. Komanso in Malawi we don’t take judges as gods,if it were so we wouldn’t have marched against justice Jane Ansah.
Mr Chamdimba I have only a few words for you and I believe all Malawians too, “YOU ARE A DICK HEAD”
Simple advice to cadets. Understand the law, follow it and you will be at peace with the judiciary you are insulting day in day out. Soon you will need them with a case as a party or as an individual. Judges interpret the laws made by parliament and implemented by the executive. It is the nature of the set up that executive is crying the loudest because it has failed to implement the laws as they are. Nobody hates you guys, its the failing to understand law. The president is not the king. Malawi is a Republic not a kingdom. The more you are attack the judges the more judges unite and its tough for you. Judges are not commenting and they wont. They will just pass judgement and then more cries. Reason for some time. Do a good job. Hire quality lawyers not every cadet
I totally agree with you the writer. some of the determinations appear nonsensical and clueless to rational thinkers. I think they too need restructuring, overhaling and criticised.
This is an excellent article. The Judiciary too can be erroneous as such their judgement must also be subjected to questioning. This way, judges will be careful not to pass judgements guided by the foolish “regime change” agenda.
This is the duty of the Supreme Court and there is nothing above.
I like it when my post gets more likes or more dislikes. Ndimadziwa kuti ndabaya!!!!
To hell with your “regime change” judges.
Malawian judges katangale too much . No wonder Matemba called the judiciary “Rotten”. From the head to the tail they are a rotten bunch of thieves
zoona. ndiponso asiye kuvala zimikhanjozo. ndizachani? kuti ife tiziopa? they look silly in those medieval hats. kudzimva too much anthu amenewa
Am.sorry
But this is what democracy is all about. Poor cadets you thought DPP owns Malawi!
You are a sorry indeed. So judges are gods to you. One day you will cry foul.
It is important to understand that the judiciary comprises of individuals trained in their field unlike the executive and legislature (as per Malawian standard) who are voted/ elected in their positions. The Executive and legislature comprise of POLITICIANS. The judiciary is composed of employees who are there to put the law in action – they have to pass tests and examinations. They may pass judgments you don’t agree with in the lower court then you go to the upper court to get justice but if the upper court finds that you are still guilty then it means by all right you are on the wrong depending on the interpretation of the law not the gut feeling of your stomach. As individuals they should not be viewed as gods, but remember they have to defend the justice system and they have to do it at all costs without compromise, that is why they are THE JUDICIARY not the legislature or executive – lets let them do their job. Now if we don’t like certain ways or acts let us channel it to the legislature to make it into law and the executive to approve it, public outrage won’t change or shake the judiciary (for they received the law and didn’t make it themselves).
You see where the problem is? The so called the presidency doesn’t need one to be educated to see that the president is useless like Mutharika. The Legislature doesnt need one to be a rocket scientist to see when they refuse or vote down the bill which Malawians need for the interests of their party & its leadership. The uniqueness of the Judiciary is that it requires the understanding of law to know that either the Judges or Magistrates have erred in law. That’s why even journalists when they need to report they get first views from the Legal experts so it is absurd to see the likes of Charles Mchancha with Junior Certificate criticizing the Judiciary yet you don’t understand law. You dont need a special qualification to be a Member of Parliament & too you dont need a special qualification to be a Cabinet Minister which is part of the executive. We have seen those with Woodwork qualifications becoming Minister of Health. But you cant be a Medical Doctor or an Engineer then you become a Judge it’s where the difference is. So Mr Writer you cannot fool us go somewhere else & bark for your master Mutharika. We need strong Judiciary
I love living TODAY. Very exciting. With people like YOU. It was different in the 60s to the late 80s. But just one thing that bothers me with Mr. Arthur Peter Mutharika: his actions during the death of his brother Mr bingu Mutharika- a dead body was flown to Johannesburg! ……. excuse me….my Jacobs coffee is getting cold….
Cadet akumva kuwawa kkkkkkkk when reyneck matemba said the judiaciary is rotten, he meant people in DPP who bribed a judge in Zomba to give bail to mr Mpinganjira…nothing more
Spot on there is need for accountability in judiciary and because onse ndi a sukulu imodzi, kalAsi imodzi ndiye eish
Totally agree to the the writer. It appears now that the Judges in Malawi are superior beings, they cannot make a mistake or cannot make a wrong judgement and cannot be criticised. We heard of the tern “ Judge Shopping” which means that their is something wrong. We have Kasambara convicted by some Judges and we have another judge saying no. Guess work or relationships attached. They are human and the can favour. A good example we have seen in US recently, a person killed by a police but the judge charges him with 3rd degree murder,the reason is favour to the white. The same our judges are rotten and people should not be criticised because judges have been criticised. The only judge that cannot be criticised is God, not man.
These are the same judges who bailed DPP as the country was at a crossroads following the 2014 General Elections. Smell.the coffee you cadets. Mutharikas do not own Malawi neither does DPP
Yes Judges may error in its determination that’s why the agrieved must follow proper channels by appealing, not going into the streets and later be condoned by the whole head of state (sic).
The matter at hand is very crucial and if the head of state feels that the 12 Judges determination was a travesty to our constitution, then let him follow the proper procedures. The executive may summon the Judges to parliament for questioning and impeachment. It’s not proper for the whole professor of law to be ranting at a state controlled MBC. Let the executive do the needful.Osati kusokosa zopanda ndi mchere omwe apa.
Malawi is governed by the rule of law, got it?
You have been bought. If the Judiciary collapses, so does the country. African Leaders do not follow the Laws, they are dictatorial. What happens in Malawi now makes us all walk with our Heads High all over the World. Hands off the Judiciary. You are used to being corrupt and now the honest judiciary is putting spanners in your Demonic acts. Mwagwa nazo. Viva Malawi Judiciary System, Viva.
Mmmm in your view Malawi judges are semi gods?
Yes, Malawi is governed by the rule of law. The writer of this article should appreciate that if there’s any arm of the government that has done well over the years, that arm is the Judiciary. The Executive and Legislature have left a lot to be desired. The arrogance of the Executive displayed since attaining our independence is beyond our imagination. They have always wanted to be treated as demi gods. The Legislature when it comes to making bad laws, claiming of fat allowances and hoodwinking voters that they are the ones bringing developments in our areas, eish. Kudos to the Judiciary serve for some bad apples, those that grant injunction during midnight.