PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Lusaka 8th December 2022 – The Hon. Chief Justice DR. Mumba Malila, SC during a courtesy call on the Judiciary by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Resident Representative Mr. Lionel Laurens, on Tuesday 6th December 2022, thanked the UNDP for the continuous partnership with the Judiciary through the Anti Gender Based Violence and Democracy Strengthening Zambia projects, respectively. In the meeting were His Lordship the Hon. Deputy Chief Justice Hon. Mr. Justice Michael Musonda SC, Justice Evans Hamaundu, Justice Albert Mark Wood, Justice Banda-Bobo, Chief Administrator, Ms. Nalishebo Imataa and the Chief Registrar, Mr. Exnobert Zulu.
In welcoming the UNDP team, the Chief Justice Dr. Mumba Malila, SC, thanked Mr. Laurens and his team for the continued partnership with the Judiciary, in the continued fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV. He thanked the UNDP for particularly pledging to construct an additional four (4), Anti GBV Fast Track Courts by end of April 2023. This is in addition to the existing six (6) courts at Lusaka, Kabwe, Choma, Chipata, Ndola and Mongu. He also thanked the UNDP for the support rendered to the in capacitating the institution during the 2021 Tripartite Electoral Dispute Resolution. The Chief Justice highlighted the urgent need to implement a Case Management System that would assist in the automation of court processes, as well as to link all tools to the relevant legal framework, in order to ensure correct synergies between the legal landscape and business processes.
In echoing the Chief Justices’ remarks, the Deputy Chief Justice said that there was need for the Zambian Judiciary to catch up to the technological developments obtaining in comparator jurisdictions, such as Zimbabwe, for example, more so that we are living at a time when the going green is the global agenda. He emphasized that this would also assist alleviate the infrastructural challenges that courts and litigants face. Justice Musonda added that the existing GBV courts are among the most beautiful structures that the institution owns.
Mr. Laurens thanked the Chief Justice for the warm welcome to the Judiciary, and reassured the Judiciary on the continued support in the areas of cooperation, and further enquired whether there could be new areas of cooperation with the UNDP. He outlined a number of successful programmes supported by the UNDP such as i-Verify Zambia, a technology based multi-stakeholder, fact checking and response mechanism, intended to address misinformation and hate speech, for online and offline platforms, a project under PANOS Institute Southern Africa, to curb misinformation.
Other issues discussed were the support to the Judiciary in the establishment of the Judicial College, the capacitating of libraries, and sensitization of the public in the functionalities of the Fast Track Courts. Mr. Laurens was accompanied by Mr. Takawira Musavengana – Project Manager, DSZ &Senior Elections Advisor, and Ms. Shupe Makashinyi – Project Coordinator.
Contact
Kalumba Chisambisha-Slavin
Judiciary of Zambia
Email: kalumba.slavin@judiciaryzambia.com
