By Monica Tambala

Lilongwe, February 16, Mana: Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have asked government through the Ministry of Justice to consider renovating some magistrate courts in the country, which are currently in dilapidated state.

Posing her supplementary question to the Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo in the August House, MP for Zomba Malosa Constituency, Grace Kwelepeta, bemoaned the dilapidated state of Domasi Magistrate Court which she said hinders timely responses to judicial cases.

“I really ask the Ministry of Justice to consider renovating Domasi Court which is in a bad state and even the house of the magistrate is not in a good state, such that our magistrate stays very far from the court and that gives problems when he has got urgent work that needs to be done.

“So my plea to the Minister of Justice is for him to help us renovate the court and houses through maybe liaising with the Minister of Lands so that we can have good facilities at Domasi Court,” she said.

Speaking in an interview with the media, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo concurred with the concerns of the concerned MPs, saying courts are indeed one of the very visible symbols of access to justice which is one of the legs of democracy.

He however said the lack of adequate funding to his ministry is what has rendered the judiciary incapable of resolving some of the problems to do with construction and rehabilitation of courts.

“So the concern of most Members of Parliament is that either there are not enough courts in their constituencies, the courts are too far from their constituencies or that the courts that are there are in a dilapidated state and need to be repaired, and that is a real problem.

“But the problem has always been funding. There has not been enough money for construction of courts or rehabilitation of courts. Judiciary has always been pleading for better funding,” he said.

In his address to the media, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda commended members of the House from both sides for coming to the deliberations and representing their people.

He further urged the members to stay active in deliberations and expressed optimism during the coming budget deliberation scheduled to commence next week where he said, time permitting, two bills will be tabled.