TANZANIA: AS Tanzania celebrates 63 years of independence, there are several notable changes and reforms that have been made by the Judiciary of Tanzania in different areas, notably improvements of infrastructure and expansion of delivery of judicial services, all aimed at enhancing the dispensation of justice, comparing to the state of affairs that were available in 1961.
Other areas wherein major progress has been made include the increase in the number of High Court Registries, number of judges both at the High Court and Court of Appeal in order to speed up the disposal of cases, review of various laws and rules and use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in order to increase efficiency.
Expansion of judicial services to the people
During colonial rule when the High Court of Tanganyika was established through the Order in Council, 1920, there were only four High Court Registries of Lushoto, Dar es Salaam, Moshi and Arusha.
The Chief Justice of Tanzania, Prof Ibrahim Hamis Juma is quoted in a statement released recently as explaining that the efforts to move the judicial services outside the city of Dar es Salaam began during the period of Chief Justice William Morris Carter (1920-1924).
Judge Carter used a procedure for Judges to travel to various Towns and Districts that were accessible by the Central Railway and the Tanga Railway to hold High Court Sessions.
The Central Railway runs from Dar es Salam to Kigoma, on the edge of Lake Tanganyika. He narrates that later the High Court Registries in Tanga, Tabora and Mwanza were established through Government Notice No 27 of 1920 and began working on 27 January 1921 during the period of Chief Justice William Carter (1920-1925).
The Tanga Registry served Pangani, Usambara, Moshi and Arusha Districts and the Mwanza Registry served Mwanza and Bukoba Districts.
Things are now different as Tanzanians celebrate 63 years of independence as High Court Sub-Registries have clicked to 20.
The registries, including the Main Registry of Dar es Salaam are Dar es Salaam, Moshi and Tanga. Others are Arusha, Iringa, Bukoba, Dodoma, Mwanza, Mbeya, Mtwara, Tabora, Kigoma, Musoma, Shinyanga, Songea, Manyara, Morogoro, Sumbawanga and Integrated Justice Centre for Family Matters Temeke.
The Chief Justice explains that Dar es Salaam serves (Dar es Salaam and Coast Regions), Arusha (Arusha Region), Dodoma (Dodoma and Singida Regions), Bukoba (Kagera Region), Moshi (Kilimanjaro Region), Mbeya (Mbeya and Songwe Regions), Mtwara (Mtwara and Lindi Region), Mwanza (Mwanza Region), Geita (Geita Region) and Sumbawanga (Rukwa and Katavi Regions).
Songea (Ruvuma Region), Tabora (Tabora Region), Tanga (Tanga Region), Iringa (Iringa and Njombe Regions), Shinyanga (Shinyanga and Simiyu Regions), Kigoma (Kigoma Region), Musoma (Mara Region), Morogoro (Morogoro Region), Temeke (Dar es Salaam Region, Family Matters) and Manyara (Manyara Region).
The increase in number of judges
Another major achievement attained is the increase in number of judges both at the High Court and Court of Appeal. At the time of independence in 1961, there was no even a single indigenous judge of the High Court.
It was in 1963 when two judges were appointed by the First President, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere. These were Augustine Said, who later became the first Chief Justice of Tanzania in 1971 and Justice Mark Kimicha. Prof Juma explains at length that after independence, the Judiciary of Tanganyika relied on Judges from outside Tanzania.
For about ten years after independence, the judiciary had to continue to rely on English experts and from other countries to provide judicial services because there were no native or national experts willing to fill the positions of foreigners.
The country of Nigeria produced a large number of magistrates because many Nigerians were able to travel to England to study Law Degrees and succeeded to be advocates in England and were recognised as Barristers.
He says that until 1965 when Judge Philip Telford Georges was brought from Trinidad and Tobago to be the Chief Judge, there were two Tanganyika Judges, Mark Peter Kimicha and Augustine Saidi who were appointed on August 10, 1964. In the list of Judicial Employees in 1970, only four (4) Judges, out of nine (9) High Court Judges present, were Tanzanians.
The five non-Tanzanian judges were Moshe Chaim Efraim Philip Biron, who was appointed on July 1, 1961 and was called the last Judge of the Tanganyika colonial administration.
The Chief Justice notes that the number of indigenous to lead the Judiciary changed on April 5, 1971 when Augustine Saidi was appointed as the first Tanzanian Chief Justice and it took more than ten (10) years after independence, until 1972 to enable the High Court to have a majority of Judges who were Tanzanians. At the Court of Appeal level, there were only five Justices at the time it was established in 1979.
These were Chief Justice Francis Nyalali, Justice Abdula Mustapher, Justice Lewis Makame, Justice Yona Mwakasendo and Justice Robert Kisanga. Things are different at the moment as Tanzania celebrated 63 years of independence as there more than 109 Judges of the High Court and 37 Justices of the Court of Appeal, including the Chief Justice.
The increase of such number of manpower has helped in the disposal of cases and increased the clearance rate of over 100 per cent.
The improvements of infrastructure
The Judiciary of Tanzania has made a history in strengthening and improving infrastructure of buildings in various areas of the country.
Great progress has been made until this year 2024 when Tanzania celebrates 63 years of independence in the construction of buildings housing Primary Court, District Courts, Resident Magistrate Courts and the High Court.
The Judiciary of Tanganyika started providing justice in a free country using buildings that were borrowed from the government.
Chief Court Administrator of Judiciary of Tanzania, Prof Elisante Ole Gabriel notes that on November 25, 2022, the Judiciary of Tanzania inaugurated eighteen (18) new modern buildings, for the District Courts of Busega, Butiama, Rorya, Songwe, Gairo, Mkinga, Mvomero, Kilombero, Mbogwe, Nyang’hwale, Kyerwa, Mvomero, Missenyi, Kaliua, Uvinza, Buhigwe, Kakonko and Tanganyika.
He says that the opening of the District Court buildings ended the system that existed at the time of one District relying on the services of the District Courts from the District Court of the neighbouring District.
In addition, on 22 December 2022, the judiciary inaugurated new and modern District Court buildings for Namtumbo (Ruvuma), Nanyumbu (Mtwara) and Tandahimba (Mtwara) and made the number of District Court buildings inaugurated between the months of November and December 2022 to be twenty-three (23).
Judiciary’s Infrastructure Development Plan (2016/2017 – 2020/2021) The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania gives the Judiciary of Tanzania the responsibility and obligation to administer justice throughout the country.
The judiciary carries out this role through different levels of the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Resident Magistrate’s Courts, the District Courts and Primary Courts. Despite the efforts to continue providing justice, until 2016 there were many areas that did not have court buildings, a situation that forces citizens and other stakeholders to walk long distances to access judicial service.
Similarly, in some areas the Magistrates had to travel long distances to provide judicial services in the visited Courts.
Despite long-term efforts to deal with this situation, if it is to build and renovate some buildings, the Judiciary of Tanzania never had an effective plan that sets specific priorities and criteria to ensure that the challenge of Court buildings is given a permanent solution.
Thus, it was when the Judiciary’s Infrastructure Development Plan (2016/2017 – 2020/2021) was put in place, focused on ensuring that the judiciary significantly reduces or completely eliminates the challenge of shortage and dilapidation of court buildings.
Five-Year Plan for Construction and Rehabilitation of Court Infrastructure (2016/17 – 2020/21) The Chief Court Administrator also notes that in recognition of the magnitude of the challenges of access to justice near the people, the Judiciary of Tanzania prepared a Five-Year Plan for the Construction and Rehabilitation of Court Infrastructure (2016/17 – 2020/21).
This program set specific priorities and parameters to ensure that the challenge of scarcity and dilapidated Court buildings is given a permanent solution.
In 2016, the High Court had buildings in only 14 regions out of 26 and some of those buildings in 14 regions that had the High Court services, were so dilapidated that needed major repairs or the construction of new buildings.
At the level of District Courts, in 2016 there was a shortage and severe deterioration of buildings, where out of 139 Districts, 111 District Courts had judicial services and only 37 had District Court buildings.
According to another Five-Year Strategic Plan of the Judiciary for 2021/2022- 2024/2025, the Judiciary plans to construct 330 new buildings by 2025, including the construction of IJCs in other 12 Regions.
Construction is already underway in the Regions of Songea, Njombe, Singida, Lindi, Simiyu, Katavi, Geita, Songwe and Pemba and the buildings are expected to be completed by June, 2025.
Review of complex and outdated Laws and Rules and use of technology in justice dispensation Increase in efficiency entailed among others, to undertake business process re-engineering in which the Judiciary embarked on the revision of various court procedures and promotion of the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
The review focused mainly on court rules under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) in which a number of steps involved before the case is concluded have been reduced to 21.
Furthermore, 28 various Rules of procedures were reviewed and promulgated. There was also an initiative made which saw 63 commonly used laws in court reviewed to incorporate all amendments that were made between 2015 to November 2019.
Another notable reform made is the use of ICT in various judicial activities, which has much improved service provision in the Judiciary. The areas improved included e-case filing, Video Conferencing, Case Management and Electronic Case Data Base.
The use of electronic payments through Government Electronic Payment Gateway (GEPG) has also enhanced efficiency and transparency in delivering court services.
On Video conference (VC) and Audio-Visual Recording, the Judiciary successfully installed VC facilities in all High Court centers, and four High Court Divisions (Land Court, Labour Court; Commercial Court and Corruption and Economic Crimes Court).
Other areas where such facilities have been installed includes more than 17 Prisons centres; the Institute of Judicial Administration (IJA) and Kisutu Training Centre.
