High Court in needof 33 more judges

The Judicial Service Commission ( JSC) says the High Court of Malawi remains understaffed with 33 vacancies of judges to fill established positions. JSC secretary Edwin Wochi in an interview yesterday said the High Court has 78 established positions against 45 currently filled. On Monday, the JSC called for applications from suitably qualified candidates to fill the position of High Court judge tenable in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu.

Wochi said the commission intends to recruit 10 High Court judges in the current exercise. “Currently, the Judiciary is understaffed and this recruitment is meant to fill vacant existing positions,” he said. In recent years, the Judiciary has come under growing public scrutiny with some citizens lamenting delays in conclusion of cases.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has welcomed the recruitment drive but stressed that increasing the number of judges alone will not solve the issue of delays in delivering judgements. In an interview yesterday, MLS president Davis Njobvu said the recruitment should be complemented by adequate provision of support staff and resources. He said: “Judges have pointed out that to be able to write judgements they need to have research assistants and materials.

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Unless such issues are looked into, we might just be creating bigger problems.” Section 111 of the Constitution gives the President power to appoint High Court Judges based on recommendations from the JSC. The current recruitment follows the appointment of four High Court Judges in 2024 and seven in February 2022. The High Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil or criminal proceedings under any law.

It operates through six divisions, namely Civil, Commercial, Criminal, Family Probate and Revenue. Malawi Judiciary Annual Reports for 2024 indicate that the six divisions registered a total of 6 293 cases and concluded 5113.

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