EDITORIAL - Another shortage

Mobile courtrooms are being fielded to speed up the dispensation of justice. But apart from the lack of courtrooms, the country needs to address another shortage: judges for 21 percent of the courts as well as public prosecutors.

Many of the vacancies are in hardship posts, in remote areas far from the homes of prospective judges, or in conflict zones where grudges are settled at gunpoint. There are legal professionals who can live with the modest pay in government service, but not with the risks to their safety in communities where even prepubescent children are toting rifles. Judges and other legal professionals have been the targets of unsolved killings in recent years. If the government wants to fill the vacancies in the judiciary and prosecution service, it should be prepared to provide protection to those who are willing to be assigned in conflict zones.

A report said the lack of judges and prosecutors is one of the biggest causes of delays in the adjudication of court cases. It takes an average of six years for a case to be resolved in a lower court. The case can be elevated to the Court of Appeals and finally to the Supreme Court. It is not unusual for a case to drag on for two decades before a final ruling is handed down by the highest tribunal.

But it’s not just the lack of judges and prosecutors that is causing a backlog in court cases. Sometimes the problem is sheer incompetence. The prosecution service is under the executive branch. The executive also appoints members of the judiciary, which is supposed to be an independent and co-equal branch of government. Inevitably, politics gets in the way of the appointment process. Political accommodation often trumps fitness for a job where a premium should be placed on competence, integrity and independence from the appointing power.

The corruption of the process shows in the quality of the administration of justice. No matter how many courtrooms are built and mobile courtrooms fielded, as long as there is no change in the selection process, justice can still be delayed and undermined.