German Ambassador to Malawi, Peter Woeste, has observed that Malawians’ obsession with the courts has turned the country into a “litigious” society.
He has also spoken out on the need to support public service reforms, observing that the system is still infested with “bad apples”.
Woeste, who has shared his thoughts with us by addressing the issue of ‘Law and justice: The responsibility of the Judiciary to contribute to reforming Malawi’, says the flow of court injunctions in the country is so endless it is admirable.
“Malawi is probably one of the most litigious communities in Africa. Why, because people here will come to court for anything. I always admired the endless chain of injunctions to stop another injunction—a legal instrument I didn’t know in this massiveness—and maybe abuse—from my [the German] legal system,” observes Woeste.
He adds that this leads to case backlog as the judiciary works towards sorting each case out. He observes that the system works to the advantage of lawyers, who cash in on the cases, while depleting the government’s financial base.
“This characterises already [sic] the strength and the weakness of Malawi’s judicial system: People respect the courts and request to get his or her ‘right’, but it is difficult to get a final verdict. Cases may drag on for years – making attorneys [lawyers] fat and government resources meagre.
“You need money to have access. Only the private sector and the political class are the injunction seekers—not the ordinary citizen, a man who cannot afford the high costs the attorneys are charging. If faced with a criminal charge the commoner may rot in prison for years waiting for his trial, deprived of his right to a hearing,” observes Woeste.
While observing that the judiciary has been an important factor in maintaining stability in the country, Woeste said that there are indications that the less privileged have less hope in the judiciary.
“The many incidents of mob justice give us a hint that the respect for the legal system may be higher amongst the elite than with the common citizen. I visited Maula Prison the other day. It is over-crowded, it is an insult to every defender of human rights. I met people [who have been] waiting for a hearing for more than two years.
“We are sponsoring the Paralegal Advisory Service [PASI]. They are committed people. They are doing a job which should be the government’s job. Everybody is considered innocent until proven otherwise. But nobody cares in giving them the right to a hearing.
“At too many places in this country I am witnessing how the state shows a relaxed, a laid back attitude – expecting [that] the donors will do the job. The judiciary should not accept this…,” adds Woeste.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has observed that access to the courts is a human right.
“The effectiveness of an injunction, both as a final or temporary order, cannot be overstated. For example, many citizens of this country and organisations dedicated to the entrenchment of democracy have benefited from injunctive reliefs against unlawful actions of the government. The past two decades of democracy are replete with examples of how government has been stopped from implementing blatantly unlawful decisions,” he said.
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