THE Judiciary of Tanzania has recorded remarkable achievements in respect of its judicial functions in the year 2022, thus making the vision of timely and accessible justice to all a reality.
This was revealed recently in Mwanza City by the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary of Tanzania, Mr Wilbert Chuma, when presenting a topic at the meeting for the Evaluation of Judicial Performance and Review of the First Half of Strategic Plan (2020/2021-2024/2025).
“Performance in areas of clearance and disposal rate, backlog and time taken exceeded most of the targets set by the Judiciary Strategic Plan and the Citizen Centric Project-Project Results Framework. This time around we made our vision of timely and accessible justice for all a reality,” he said.
Mr Chuma explained that for the past three years, the performance of the Judiciary of Tanzania on its judicial functions has been improving both at the individual court and institutional levels.
“This is the result of strategies put in place by the Judiciary and supported by the Government including increasing the number of judicial officers, breaking physical proximity barriers, use of Information Communication and Technology and strategic engagement of stakeholders,” he said.
He also pointed out that regular review of laws, backstopping and backlog clearance programmes, staff commitment and dedication and attitude change were among the reasons behind such outstanding achievements.
The Chief Registrar pointed out that in 2022 filed cases increased by 3 per cent in comparison to 2021, and at the same time the Primary Courts filed 68 per cent of all cases registered countrywide and decided 66 per cent of all cases determined at all court levels.
According to him, Courts of Resident Magistrates, District Courts and the Juvenile Courts filed 23 percent of all filed cases and determined by 24 percent.
On part of the High Court, Mr Chuma disclosed that the filing was 8 per cent and decided at 9 per cent, while the Court of Appeal filed 1 per cent and decided at the same percentage.
The Chief Registrar further explained that the overall backlog decreased by 5 per cent, that is from 11 percent in 2021 to 6 percent in 2022.
Emphasizing on the decrease of backlog at each court level, Mr Chuma said there was a decrease of 7per cent at District Courts, 13 per cent at Courts of Resident Magistrate’s, five per cent at the High Court and nine per cent at the Court of Appeal.
“Courts of Resident Magistrates and District Courts contributing 61 percent of the entire backlog, have 20 per cent of backlog cases not within their jurisdiction. These cases constitute 12 per cent of the entire backlog,” the Chief Registrar said.
According to him, share of cases without jurisdiction in the entire backlog has decreased by 11.1 percent from 21.1 percent in 2021 to 12 percent in 2022.
On the clearance rate, the Chief Registrar pointed out further that the overall clearance rate raised from 99 percent in 2021 to 106 percent in 2022.
He said that the clearance rate increased at the Court of Appeal from 73 to 93 per cent, High Court from 112 to 113 per cent, District Courts from 98 to 106 per cent while at Primary Court is from (97 to 104 percent.
Mr Chuma was, however, quick to point out that the clearance rate dropped at the Courts of Resident Magistrate from 130 per cent in 2021 to 122 per cent in the year 2022.
The High Court’s Labour Division led by 174 per cent at the clearance rate followed by the High Court’s Commercial Division with 148 per cent, High Court Bukoba Zone became the third with 143 per cent, the High Court’s Land Division became fourth with 133 per cent and Tanga High Court Zone was the fifth with 123 per cent.
On part of Resident Magistrate’s Court, Iringa led by 320 percent, followed by Mbeya with 235 per cent, the third was Arusha with 233 per cent; Dodoma became fourth with 206 per cent, while Shinyanga was the fifth with 193 per cent.
At District Court level, Longido led by 159 percent, followed by Malinyi with 154 percent, Namtumbo was third with 152 percent, Mvomero was fourth with 145 percent and Manyoni was fifth with 139 percent.