Mwakyembe tells lawyers to go ethical.
Minister for Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Justice, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe.
At issue is a corruption in the routine issuance of legal
practicing certificates, allegedly given randomly to individuals who do
not necessarily meet the professional requisites.
Minister for Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Justice, Dr
Harrison Mwakyembe said the double standards that shrouded the
profession ought to be fought and that professional knowledge was not
enough in granting one a certificate.
He said personal ethical state of affairs of a professional
practitioner should be considered requisite for a potential lawyer a
practicing certificate.
“Practicing certificates are given to everybody satisfying the
requirements, well and good…but is it fair, is it doing justice the
people around us seeing government employees working as private
advocates,” queried the minister yesterday while officiating the annual
conference and the general meeting of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS)
in Arusha.
Citing an example, the minister wondered as to how a Prevention and
Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) employee in an administrative
district with a practicing certificate played the role of a prosecutor
in court on Monday against people accused of corruption.
He said the same officer appeared in the same court the following,
wielding his practicing certificate to stand in defense of a person
accused of rape and causing grievous bodily harm on a person. “Sadly,
the magistrates and advocates are quiet. In fact they even call him to
hold briefs for them in cases requiring wide legal knowledge,” he said.
He also challenged TLS into cultivating keen interest in legal
proceedings at primary courts level with a view to sharing expert
knowledge with the judiciary and the government.
He said it was important for the lawyers to keep up with the pace
of changing political dynamics in the country while discharging their
duties.
The minister however acknowledged that despite enormous efforts by
the judiciary to closely monitor, facilitate and get things moving, it
was still faced by an acute shortage of infrastructure to accommodate
the courts.
“Ideally the principle is, one primary court in one administrative
ward, but the reality is out of 3,957 wards, only 976 have such courts,
including those in extremely bad shapes,” he noted.
He said through its limited resources, the judiciary was still bold
enough in embarking on ambitious rehabilitation and construction
exercise of primary courts after President John Magufuli directed the
treasury to give courts their entire budgeted development fund.
Dr Mwakyembe also heaped praise on lawyers following their decision
of deferring the 2016 half annual general meeting budget to support the
construction of Wakili House, a building that will house TLS’s
offices.
The lawyers raised Sh271m to support the building.
On his part, the outgoing TLS President Charles Rwechungura said
the conference entailed at reflecting on the journey the society has
gone throughout the 60 years of its existence in the country.
“As lawyers we have a very crucial role to play in the society in
pursuit of discharging justice, which is why we are here to take stock
of the 60 years, and where we intend to take our society,” he addressed
the delegation of 2000 plus lawyers gathered at the Arusha International
Conference Centre (AICC) Simba Hall..
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