Judges get around $2,000, that’s quite low – Sangwa
By ZR Reporter
Judges get around $2,000 (monthly salary), that’s quite low, says renowned constitutional Lawyer John Sangwa, State Counsel, as he categorises them among the lowly paid civil servants.
And Mr Sangwa has argued that there is no single judge in this country that can claim to have been appointed on merit.
He added that appointing a judge is like an induction in a secret society.
“First of all, nobody knows how these judges are identified and that is why I was saying let there be a transparent system where you advertise, people are openly interviewed and you even have a score sheet… you scored this, therefore, we are making you a judge,” he said when he featured on Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba’s “The Conversation” Podcast.
“That process is a cleansing process so that someone can now claim to say I was appointed on merit. There is no single judge in this country that can claim to have been appointed on merit. And that, the minds, the independence of the institution, the independence of the individual judges…”
Mr Sangwa said in most progressive societies, the processes in question processes are open and transparent.
“Because if you challenge any judge you say fine, how did you get yourself appointed? Who did you compete against for you claim that you were appointed on merit? Nobody can answer that question,” he said.
“The whole process is dark… and that is why we fought so hard to make sure that we put a new system in place to ensure that judges are appointed on merit. Obviously they fought it and there was some weak excuse to say well you needed to pass an enabling law and so forth. I mean that was completely false. You didn’t need to do that because this is simply an administrative process that could have been put in place.”
Meanwhile, Mr Sangwa said the judiciary ought to be adequately funded.
“Right now, judges are some of the lowly paid civil servants… judges get around $2,000, that’s quite low,” he said.
“Other brunches of the judiciary can struggle financially, but the judiciary should never, okay? Because once the judiciary is gone, the whole country is gone, and that is exactly what has happened. There is no talk about improving the condition of the judges.”
©️ ZAMBIA REPORTS, 19TH SEP 2024.