By Patricia Male
Center for Constitutionalism and Legal Justice Director Isaac Mwanza has charged that the process used to remove Judge Joshua Banda as High Court Judge by President Hakainde Hichilema was unconstitutional.
Mr. Mwanza says president Hichilema acted prematurely in removing Judge Banda as high court judge at a prima facie stage of the matter when the Judicial Complaints Commission–JCC- conducted the hearings where they were only determining whether the judge was supposed to respond to a case which could have been established by those that complained against him.
Reacting to the dismissal of Judge Banda by President Hichilema recently for mischievous behaviour in the execution of his mandate, Mr. Mwanza tells Phoenix News that according to article 144 of the constitution, a judge cannot be removed upon the mere finding of a prima facie case by the commission but must wait until the judge is heard during the main hearing that takes place within 30 days after he/she is suspended by the president.
Mr. Mwanza therefore says the removal of judge Banda, without first being suspended and afforded the main hearing is a mockery of justice and unconstitutional.
He says the courts must now come in to give guidance on this matter and to avoid setting a precedence where judges of any court will be removed at the point of prima facie determination by the Judicial Complainants Commission.
The firing of judge Banda came a few hours after President Hichilema received two reports from the Judicial Complaints Commission last Friday, containing complaints the commission received from citizens against some judicial officers.
PHOENIX NEWS