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Access to Justice: Court Efficiency in Zambia
No full textThe Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) is an independent, educational research and development oriented research centre. Through interdisciplinary research, publications, seminars, and dialogue facilitation, the Institute seeks to contribute to improved policy making, research capacity, and governance. The Institute aims to be a catalyst for new ideas and concepts on good governance and development in Zambia and Southern Africa and a documentation centre to serve as an indispensable partner on research and policy analysis.
SAIPAR is the host of the Economic Policy Resource Centre (EPRC) and the Zambia Legal Information Institute (Zambialii).While access to justice has many components, the speed with which litigants can have their case disposed of is an important justice indicator. While there is widespread belief that the courts are inefficient, the evidence of this inefficiency is largely anecdotal and impressionistic. There is very little, if any, empirical data on the perfor-mance of Zambian courts. This project seeks to address this gap and examine how efficiently the courts dispense justice and how ordinary citizens seeking legal remedies interface with the judicial system. It is hoped that re-search findings can inform the development of norms and standards that can facilitate sound case management models and accountability.Southern African Institute of Policy and Research (SAIPAR
Katuka and Law Association of Zambia vs Inonge Wina and Others (2016/CC/0010/2016/CC/0011) [2016] ZMCC 1
Get PDFThe discrete legal issue to be decided by the Court was whether the continued stay in office by the Vice President, Cabinet Ministers, Provisional Ministers and Deputy Ministers – after the dissolution of Parliament on 11th May, 2016, and after the enactment of the Constitution of Zambia Amendment Act No. 2 of 2016, was ultra vires the constitution and therefore unconstitutional. If unconstitutional, a follow up issue was whether the salaries, allowances, and emoluments drawn by the above officials during their unlawful stay in office should be repaid. The case was filed as three separate causes, but by consent of the parties, the court consolidated the causes and determined them simultaneously. Steven Katuka, suing as Secretary General of the United Party for National Development (UPND), and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) acted as petitioners in the matter.
The Constitutional Court was faced with the unenviable task of interpreting constitutional provisions that were on their face, ambiguous and even somewhat contradictory. The need for interpretation arose from the change in constitutional dispensations brought about by the enactment of a new constitutional amendment in January 2016
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