EDITORIAL: Judiciary must restore trust
Namibians’ trust in the judiciary has declined significantly over the past few years, with the public perception that judges and magistrates are involved in corruption increasing by 23%, from 53% in 2012 to 76% in 2019.
This is according to a report by ISG Risk Services, in partnership with Survey Warehouse.
The findings cannot be scoffed at as mere perceptions. While the law is not an art of mathematical precision, as British lawyer Lord Denning once proclaimed, there have been some odd events in our judiciary in recent times.
Many come to mind, but perhaps a notable one came in 2019 when the judiciary hid the Kora music awards case from the public eye. For what it’s worth, this is the case in which Kora kingpin Ernest Adjovi cited President Hage Geingob and the then attorney general, Sacky Shanghala, as having been aware of the circumstances that led to the N$23 million loss.
Just a month after that secretive scandal, Judge President Petrus Damaseb wrote to several stakeholders, including the Law Society of Namibia, seeking input on plans to bar the press and public from accessing certain cases.
It’s one thing to have a small-time magistrate arrested for accepting a bribe from a traffic offender who seeks to have their case tossed out. But when a judge president seeks unorthodox court secrecy, negative perceptions will arise and flourish.
This is according to a report by ISG Risk Services, in partnership with Survey Warehouse.
The findings cannot be scoffed at as mere perceptions. While the law is not an art of mathematical precision, as British lawyer Lord Denning once proclaimed, there have been some odd events in our judiciary in recent times.
Many come to mind, but perhaps a notable one came in 2019 when the judiciary hid the Kora music awards case from the public eye. For what it’s worth, this is the case in which Kora kingpin Ernest Adjovi cited President Hage Geingob and the then attorney general, Sacky Shanghala, as having been aware of the circumstances that led to the N$23 million loss.
Just a month after that secretive scandal, Judge President Petrus Damaseb wrote to several stakeholders, including the Law Society of Namibia, seeking input on plans to bar the press and public from accessing certain cases.
It’s one thing to have a small-time magistrate arrested for accepting a bribe from a traffic offender who seeks to have their case tossed out. But when a judge president seeks unorthodox court secrecy, negative perceptions will arise and flourish.
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