Gracing the national Law Week and Law Day climax, the president laid emphasis on the need for judges of the High Court and magistrates to deliver fair judgements in order to bring to an end complaints by the people over serving sentences they did not deserve.
In the annual event, tied the Judiciary New Year, she affirmed that handing out justice is a task related to what is divine. "Handing out an unfair verdict is a sin and that is shameful on the basis of Scripture," she said.
"It is shameful where a magistrate hands an unfair verdict and the family of the jailed person lives with difficulty in the streets, thus magistrates should avoid unfair verdicts," she told the gathering.
Citing paragraph 107(a) section 2(a) to (e) of the 1977 constitution, she said it lays out precepts to be followed when courts deliver verdicts in various issues. The key requirement is to exercise fairness to all without discrimination for wealth or status, she asserted.
That provision also demands that justice delivery should not be delayed without unavoidable cause, to promote and propel conciliation between parties to specific conflicts and exercising justice without being excessively constrained by technical provisions which could impede the exercise of justice, she further noted.
She similarly demanded stakeholders in the delivery of justice countrywide to evaluate their work and identify their shortcomings to work on them so as to improve that sphere of the delivery of justice.
Plenty of effort has been directed at criminal justice so there is need to increase efforts in civil cases, she said, noting that there are also complaints on that side.
Numerous cases that are delayed, routine demands are heavy, some saying that it takes up to 12 months for a plaint before a district court or resident magistrate's court to be heard to conclusion, the president intoned.
Glancing in the direction of the High Court she said that it takes upwards of 24 months for a case to be heard up to delivery of judgement, asserting that this takes too much time, with the parties involved wasting so much time on the issues instead of doing something useful for the society.
Demanding that this situation be re-examined, the president asked justice delivery stakeholders to speed up delivering verdicts in commercial litigation and contentions so that they are rapidly ended and other things proceed.
"We recognise that investments are linked with legal aspects so in commercial disputes it is better for our courts to prioritise such issues as well," she said, emphasising that there is need to look at how best to start using arbitration in such disputes instead of people going to court.
Drew on lessons of the Samia Legal Aid outreach activity, saying that there is a vast need for legal aid countrywide, as there are numerous problems relating to land, marital disputes, inheritance, gender-based violence and civil claims.
Chief Justice Prof. Ibrahim Juma, in his remarks, said that the time for blaming one another is gone and it is time for implementation, and the judiciary promises to be at the forefront of efficient conduct of its duties.
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