Govt petulant behaviour sickening

Mmegi Editor | Friday February 5, 2016 12:30

The statement released by Augustine Makgonatsotlhe, the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security in response to the remarks made by the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) at the opening of the Legal Year is a case in point. The LSB chairperson talked about the appointment of a foreign Judge of European descent to the Court of Appeal while there was a pending case against the appointments of some Appeals’ Court.

The lawyers’ representative also noted that it is accepted principle in the dispensation that the presiding officers of courts must reflect the demographics of the society that those courts serve.  However, he noted that this is not the case in the High Court and especially the Court of Appeal where gender, race and age are disproportionate to the demographic position of the country. In our view this is a fair comament that did not warrant an ill-advised response from the Executive.

 The government said it would not interact with the legal organisation until an apology is made.  This is a first coming from government.  It is an open secret that there are too many foreign white Court of Appeal Judges.

Fifty years as a democracy the country is still to have a female Court of Appeal Judge. It is not that there are no deserving female candidates in Botswana. We would not mention names of deserving candidates in Botswana.

The response to the issue clearly demonstrates a worrying trend and we wonder why a senior member of the Executive army of government would complain on behalf of the Judiciary.  It is becoming obvious that the government no longer respects separation of powers.

The Executive acts like a bull in a China shop. It does not respect the independence of Legislature and Judiciary.  In fact the Society’s chairperson should have been allowed to say more about the State of Judiciary in 2015.

There are so many issues affecting the Judiciary that the Chief Justice did not mention.  The issue of forum shopping has been dominating the proceedings of the past Opening of the Legal Year for many years now.

For instance, LSB through a notice dated July 6, 2015 expressed reservations about the process used to appoint a panel of three judges who will hear a case in which the legal body is suing President Ian Khama over his rejection of a nominee for High Court Judge.In response, the Registrar stated that he had been directed by the JSC to decline to answer the request, as the matter was under judicial consideration and therefore not the open to discussion.

This is the same JSC that is headed by the Chief Justice and this is a clear case of conflict of interest. These are some of the issues that the Judiciary is terribly failing to resolve.

Today’s thought

“In the assessment of the Society, 2015 has not been a good year for the dispensation of justice in Botswana.”

-Lawrence Lecha