| The structure that is Dar’s Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court | Send to a friend |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010 11:59 |
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Such are the ambiguities of life that it happens once in while even to the most law-abiding citizen in the land. I had to answer to a summons to appear before a magistrate at Kisutu. The charge is a mouthful for an uninitiated boob that is me, but there is the word “CRIMINAL” included in all the mumbo-jumbo. The whole thing is, of course, sub judice, so we cannot go into it any farther, I am told. On this unwelcome visit to the Law Courts one thing stood out like a sore index finger. The building must have seen better days; consequently much of everything else looked decrepit if not all together dilapidated. It was erected when Dar es Salaam could boast of about one and a half million inhabitants, and virtually ufisadi was then as alien as an apple pie; whereas now there are about four million disgruntled souls who can claim citizenship for this less than sanitary clean metropolis. The court building now bursts at the seams. This perception appears to be exacerbated by the manner bits and pieces of furniture is stowed at every nuke and cranny within the building. One of course should understand how difficult it is to have anything repaired or written off the books. Bureaucracy could never be any more suffocating than in bloated government machinery. Foggy Bottom is no better. The floor is an untidy mosaic of cracking and torn plastic tiles that one would think had been pasted out there by the late Mr Justice Biron. This is strange to say the least; first because this is the seat of the second most important place that dispenses justice in Dar es Salaam, if not around the whole country. Nowhere else in the country are any heavy weights arraigned to answer charges of ufisadi like they are at Kisutu. Therefore, decisions or judgments that are passed here could be momentous, and only second to the High Court. One would have expected that the facade and everything else about the structure match to a “t” the mystique that surrounds everything about Law Courts and the fraternity generally. To start with, it would be obvious to any visitor that the cleaning of everywhere and everything had been perfunctory at best. One could not fail to notice how much dust had settled on some furniture and no effort had been made to dust off this bare woodwork. I had the misfortune of peeping on top of a file cabinet; and by thunder the dust up there was more than several microns thick, and some stinging insects had found a place to build a home for themselves. The dust and the home must have been there for months. In this day of automation it was a bit of a puzzle that one could find so many files, besides being untidily dumped around, they were tied up with sisal twine without any care given to aesthetics. It struck me that there were very few desktop computers to be seen around, yet this contraption is now so commonplace that an important institution like the judiciary should have them in plenty. As should be expected there are always swarms of advocates within the court building. These learned bothers are a very important ingredient in the complex concoction that makes life tick. Every accused has the right to representation to the extent that one hears of a leaned brother shouting vociferously in defence of a known criminal. Al Capone had his shadowy attorneys and they were some of the richest in the land. They were also some of the most respected (?) members of the community. So it was within the bounds of democracy that Kisutu too has its fair share of these learned bothers. One needs to sympathise with this lot because they are not provided with adequate accommodation within the building. There is no privacy should any one of them wish to conduct a tête-à-tête with a client, especially one who would already be under the care of prison warders. But should these learned brothers not add dignity to the Law courts? There they were in their ill-fitting crumpled suits and dusty laden shoes. They do not have to appear in quaint striped trousers and tails topped by a wig like their British cousins. But being among the cream of the society they have to look the part if only to enhance the dignity of the profession and the judiciary generally. This is not to forget that Tanzania still avows to mould a classless society. Only that the mould has yet to be cast in some forsaken workshop at Mlimba. It is the opinion of many that it was infra dig that foreign aid had to be sought to repair and renovate the buildings of the primary court at the junction of Morogoro Road and Lumumba Street. The Canucks came to the rescue to raise the dignity of the court. Does the country have to go though the humiliating process again with regard to the world-famous Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court building? Khalid S. Mtwangi is a social and political analyst based in Dar es Salaam Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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