Benjamin Mtesigwa, a senior governance specialist at the country office of the World Bank, made this remark at the Integrated Justice Centre (ICJ) in the capital yesterday, accompanying a staff team from World Bank headquarters who are on a week-long visit.
Expressing satisfaction with the progress in the project, he said the aim of the visit was to view the projects first hand, to see if there are challenges and find the way forward.
The World Bank remains committed to support the project, making it one of its kind in the region and beyond,” he said of the project in 2015 when the Judiciary launched a five-year strategic plan for changes.
The project is meant to carry out changes by training officers while building facilities in underserved areas, introducing technology to save time and money, he stated, elaborating that the project is designed to improve efficiency and transparency in accessing selected judicial services, to make them more citizen-centred.
The team will be visiting various areas to see how the project is being carried out in different judicial zones countrywide, he said, expressing gratitude to President Samia Suluhu Hassan on the issue.
He said the president was making efforts to ensure major reforms are carried out in the judiciary, with Tanzania setting the pace for other countries in the region and beyond.
The UN official also applauded Chief Justice Prof Ibrahim Juma for his devotion to making the project a reality, while judiciary administrator Prof Elisante ole Gabriel told the team of the government’s commitment to liaise with the World Bank up to completion of the projects.
Ongoing constructions of integrated justice centres in different regions is among components of the project, the administrator noted, underlining that the team was on a routine visit to inspect implementation of the second phase of the project.
The various projects implemented by the judiciary with World Bank support are progressing well, both the physical infrastructure and in the quality of services provided to the public.
Dr Angelo Rumisha, the head of the judiciary delivery unit, explained that the project targets governance, organization as well as systems development.
This component aims to improve efficiency and modernize administration to diminish delays, backlogs and administrative bottleneck, he said, also pointing at strengthening planning, human resources, simplifying governing rules and modernizing record keeping.
Still other areas are improving staff productivity, deconcentrating functions and leveraging technology for the introduction of electronic justice services, issuance of statistics and information to business stakeholders and the public.
Another sphere is skills development, inspection and performance management for strengthening training and skills of judicial staff and other stakeholders, to kick-start the Directorate of Inspections.
It will proceed with judicial performance monitoring via a robust mechanism for obtaining citizen feedback on court services, he declared.
The access to justice and securing public trust component will address these challenges by expanding avenues of accessing justice and promoting innovations that bring justice services closer to the people, he said.
“Since access to justice and justice reform is a long-term process, this component also seeks to facilitate the development of complementary programs in collaboration with other development partners,” the senior administrator intoned.
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