The Primary Justice Programme, which has been running for five years in Ntcheu, has been commended for improving case recording in village tribunals in the district.
Speaking during an exit meeting of the programme on Friday, Traditional Authority (T/A) Ganya said for decades, village tribunals had been keeping case records, but lacked proper knowledge and skills in maintaining the case books.
“We are now pleased that most village tribunals under the programme have been provided with case registers with well-demarcated columns, thereby making them user-friendly,” he said.
However, Ganya expressed concern over some village tribunals that do not record cases for unknown reasons. He pledged to visit such tribunals to ensure that they keep records of all handled or referred cases.
Primary Justice Programme officer for Ntcheu, Mike Makalande, commended volunteer community-based educators for their commitment throughout the implementation period of the programme in the district.
He advised village heads against removing trained secretaries for village tribunals and replacing them with untrained ones as this would water down the already made achievements.
Ntcheu District Council chief administration officer Chikhawo Mbewe commended the programme for enhancing and promoting unity and peace among community members.
The programme has been running from 2011 to 2016 in six T/As in Ntcheu with funding from the United Kingdom’s (UK)Department for International Development (DfID) through Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) of Lilongwe Diocese.
Its objective was to improve access to justice by vulnerable members of the society such as women, physically -challenged people, orphans and children. n
