MASERU — Who is to blame for the corruption in the judiciary?
Justice Semapo Peete says “judicial corruption and political corruption are birds of a feather — they flock together!”
A judge who is a protégé, he says, is beholden to a corrupt regime.
This makes it difficult for them to deal impartially with cases in which the government has a stake.
The judge says political corruption thrives where there is no ethical code for the executive (government) and the legislature (parliament).
In such cases, he says, “Integrity, honesty, probity are ridiculed as signs of weakness. Wealth, power (and) ruthlessness are virtues that are praised and strived for”.
“Capture of the judiciary and its ultimate subjugation are at times the precious spoils of political victory whose warped sense of justice discerns nothing to be wrong.”
“In Africa today this tendency is gaining ground in many forms; some calling it judicial transformation (while) some call it judicial activism.”
The judge argues that government control over the judiciary “is essentially a worst form of political corruption” because it leaves a legacy that will continue to haunt the judiciary years after a political regime is gone.
He adds that once a judge’s political patrons are gone they will be scorned and rejected by other judges. He however admits that in any corrupt activity “it takes two to tango”.
“A corrupt judge may be a recipient of corrupt reward e.g. promotion, secret allowances or he/she may be the instigator who demands rewards for decisions he/she makes.”
“The other side of the coin is the sad fact that people often become politicians not for the betterment of their country and people but for the good of themselves and their henchmen and a corrupt judge is a handy tool in cloaking their nefarious schemes with an aura of legality.”
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