BY SPECIAL REPORTER
THE Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) through its Zanzibar branch (THRDC-Zanzibar), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zanzibar Judiciary to foster and improve the justice delivery system and to enhance human rights in the Zanzibar isles.
The signing ceremony of MoU between THRDC and Zanzibar Judiciary was witnessed by the Acting Chief Justice of Zanzibar, magistrates, the national coordinator of THRDC as well as Zanzibar’s THRDC Coordinator, some of the board members of the THRDC from Zanzibar, judicial officers, THRDC officials from Tanzania mainland and in the isles, as well as members of the Press from different media houses in the country.Speaking shortly after the signing in ceremony, THRDC’s Zanzibar Coordinator, Abdallah Abeid thanked the judiciary administration for seeing the importance of formalizing its cooperation with THRDC, which is aimed at helping the Zanzibari society to a greater extent.
“This event comes after a good work which we had already begun by cooperating with the judiciary, and we have seen it is bearing fruits, therefore, we decided to formalize it. Let me emphasize that this MoU is going to build a stronger justice system and the direct beneficiaries are the people of Zanzibar” explained THRDC’s Zanzibar coordinator.
Moreover, Mr. Abeid added THRDC is determined to work closely with the judiciary and the government, in general, to ensure that the society of Zanzibar is better served;
“THRDC has decided to directly cooperate with the Zanzibar judiciary to ensure that the justice system is working properly in the Zanzibar islands, we hope that this cooperation will bear the fruits and we are proud of this three-year cooperation agreement. We thank the judiciary for trusting us, cooperating and working together to ensure that we strengthen the justice system here in Zanzibar” Abdallah Abeid, THRDC Coordinator- Zanzibar
Meanwhile the National Coordination of the THRDC, Onesmo Olengurumwa thanked the President of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi for putting better environment of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and its institutions to work closely with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Olengurumwa said that within a short period since the registration of the THRDC’s Zanzibar branch, Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition has been closely working with various government institutions and is hoping to continue doing so to bring development to Zanzibaris such as enhancing fairness and human rights.
Speaking to the Press, Acting Zanzibar Chief Justice Khamis Ramadhani Abdallah explain various strategies set up by the Judiciary to improve its various services to the citizens and especially putting into consideration human rights;
“The judiciary is determined to improve its performance. As I have explained the judiciary has been facing many challenges, therefore we have decided to eliminate them so that the people can benefit from the various services offered by the judiciary and help reduce public woes, "Khamis Ramadhani Abdallah Acting Zanzibar Chief Justice.
To resolve various challenges which have been upsetting the citizen the judiciary explained that it has formed various committees. Those committees include the committee for judicial reform which is under the chairmanship of George Kazi, ICT and Statistics Committee, Research and Coordination committee, Legal and directives committee, and training committee all of which are tasked to ensure that the judiciary can resolve all the challenges it has been through.
“The Judiciary cannot walk on its own, we are under the government but there are other partners we closely work with to ensure that we attain our objectives to improve service delivery, one of our partners is the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) which through its Zanzibar Branch they have come and started working with us,” said Khamis Ramadhani Abdallah, Acting Zanzibar Chief Justice.
He observed that the cooperation would help to improve various areas such as;
1) “To build capacity and to dispense justice in the society, “We will cooperate in various aspects such as to start doing research and to draft a document which would spell out various challenges the judiciary face and how to resolve them”.
2) To research in various areas including Gender-Based Violence, “we can research to establish the root cause of GBV, a rampant problem in our society and how to resolve it.”
3) Case Management, “ we know that there is a problem with case management, there are several complaints that the cases are not speedily processed, the verdict is not expediently executed, 'proceedings' are not released faster, therefore in our MoU, we will find a way to improve case management.”
4) To cooperate in conducting various seminars and refresher courses to improve judicial services. Said Act Chief Justice.
After signing the MoU, THRDC and the Judiciary have resolved to find a consultant who would conduct research and provide a report which would help to prepare a long-term strategic plan of improving judicial services to ensure that the judiciary continues to improve its service considering human rights.
This step is the continuation of the THRDC’s resolve to forge cooperation with various authorities to ensure that human rights are upheld as well as improvement in the services related to human rights in various parts of the country. This MoU opens a room for THRD’s members and it’s partners across the country to coorparate with judiciary in Zanzibar to advance justice delivery system In this beautiful island.