Court staff services satisfactory: Survey

A NEW survey by the Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) has found out that accessibility and courteousness of court staff in the country has increased significantly.

The yet to be disseminated Court User Satisfaction Survey, 2023, shows that there has been a significant increase in service delivery by court staff between 2015 and 2023.

The initial results of the survey were revealed in Dodoma by Chief Justice Professor Ibrahim Juma when opening a meeting of the Workers Council in the judiciary, saying that the findings of the survey would soon be disseminated.

He paid tribute to employees for discharging their duties to the satisfaction of their clients.

“I want to assure you that the assessment shows that you are doing a great job according to the draft report that I have so far received,’’ the CJ told the staff.

During a similar survey that was conducted in 2015, the findings indicated that accessibility and courteousness of court staff was 74 per cent.

The percentage increased to 81 per cent during the 2019 survey and in the recent survey conducted in 2023 the number has increased to 93 per cent, according to the CJ.

“The 2023 survey indicates that 93 per cent of the respondents who were interviewed were satisfied with services offered by court staff in the course of discharging their duties,’’ he added, asking all employees to read the findings immediately after dissemination by the research firm.

Also, according to Prof Juma, the survey asked users of court services who had attended court sessions to give their assessment on how judges and magistrates had handled their cases, and the results show that 92 per cent of the respondents had showed respect, polite and kind behaviours, which is an increment of 3 per cent from 89 per cent that came out of the 2019 survey.

At the workers’ council, the CJ asked employees in the judiciary to maintain their judicial reform culture which is based on equality before the law, impartial, fairness and just treatment, independent decision-making, competence, integrity, transparency, accessibility, timeliness and certainty.

He further underscored the need for the judiciary to implement the ongoing Digital Tanzania Project (DTP) which is currently being implemented by the government seeking to improve the government’s capacity to deliver digital public services, towards accelerating the digital economy in Tanzania.

“As employees in the judiciary, we should not be left behind and we should remain at the forefront when it comes to using technology to offer services to our people,’’ insisted the CJ.