‘All Judiciary staff have interest in the outcome of strike’
Briefly, tell us the reasons that made you decide to stage a strike?
The strike came about due to government’s failure to implement conditions of service which were approved by Parliament in 2006.
The Finance Minister is on record to have said government does not have money to solve your grievances, why are you still on strike then?
Government has not communicated that to us. However, whether or not government has the money is not the condition in as far as the implementation of this matter is concerned.
Given the economic turmoil the country is going through, for example, shortage of drugs in hospitals, do you think the timing of your strike is right? Are you not being selfish?
The question is not when the strike should take place but whether the government has done the needful. There is no selfishness in demanding one’s rights.
Should government decide to ignore you, what are you going to do? Do you have plan B?
Government has only one option and that is to appropriate the law.
You were recently quoted as saying judges are in support of the strike. Did they tell you or is that what you think?
I said that everybody (including judicial officers) has vested interest in the outcome of this strike
The issue seems to have taken a lot of time before you reacted. What were you doing all this time?
It is because we thought that government was acting in good faith when it requested for more time for it to manage the implementation.
As a result of the strike, many cases of people on remand have stalled. Do you not feel sorry for the prisoners whose cases could have been concluded by now?
We are very empathetic about the situation on the ground. However, it needs to be understood that we are in a similar predicament since government continues to violate our rights.
Any last comment?
It is our hope that government will move swiftly in addressing our demands so that we can go back to serve the public.
