PARLIAMENTARY Legal Committee (PLC) chairperson Mr Jonathan Samkange says there is no constitutional crisis in the country and recent developments reflect the proper functioning of the judiciary.
A crisis, Mr Samkange said, would have been there if the arms
of the state including the judiciary and the legislature were fighting each
other.
The High Court recently nullified the extension of Chief
Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure which was however, challenged by Government
prompting some sections of the legal fraternity and the media to wrongly claim
a constitutional crisis in the country.
In an interview on the sidelines of a refresher workshop
for members of the PLC here at the weekend, Mr Samkange said what was happening
was that the judiciary was assisting in the democratisation process.
“There is absolutely no crisis and I would say the crisis
is in the minds of those people who feel they have not achieved what they
intended to achieve,” said Mr Samkange.
“A crisis would have been a situation where the judiciary
is fighting the legislature and also Parliament on the other hand fighting the
judiciary which, is not the case. What we see is the judiciary assisting in a
democratic process.”
The situation, he said, would then be corrected by the
executive. Differences in interpretation of provisions of the Constitution,
said Mr Samkange, did not translate into a constitutional crisis.
“Courts are made of human beings and that is why you have
magistrates, High, Supreme and Constitutional courts as an acknowledgement that
mistakes can be made and that someone may be aggrieved and needs recourse
through an appeal,” he said.
Criminal cases can go all the way to the President through
appeal for clemency and during the colonial era, people could go as far as the House
of Lords for appeal citing the Madzimbamuto case.
The workshop sought to sharpen the skills of the PLC which
comprises legal minds on the skills of drafting, definition of various clauses,
the purpose of a bill and statutory instruments and how they can be thoroughly
scrutinised.
Mr Samkange said the PLC was the ears and eyes of
Parliament when it comes to analysis and scrutiny of bills and Statutory
Instruments. Herald
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