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"id": 195189,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/195189/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Nyamweya",
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"speaker": {
"id": 391,
"legal_name": "Manson Oyongo Nyamweya",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my concern is that as much as we are moving towards modernising the system, we must also look at the infrastructure itself, for example, the court rooms, the personnel, the training of the entire staff and the equipment that we use. I do not think that plea-bargaining per se will un-clog the justice system. I think we must also, besides this particular Bill that I support, urge the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs to bring a comprehensive Bill dealing with reforms in the Judicial Service. We must also look at the number of magistrates we can bring in. This Bill, should have been accompanied, very speedily, with the enabling appointment of extra judges of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. This is because part of the system is clogged by the lack of actual personnel. In doing what we ought to have done a very long time ago, we must invest and put enough funds in modernising the system itself so that we can deal with the numerous cases which come before us. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go to an ordinary court, you will find hundreds and hundreds of accused persons, perhaps, who should not have been accused in the first place. It is high time, in this system, we introduced prosecutors at this level we are asking, so that authority is given to deal with plea-bargaining in every district. That way, matters do not have to go before the Attorney-General. These matters should be dealt with at the district level. In addition to the infrastructure which we must improve with regard to our courts, we must also ensure that the accused truly understands what this means. This is because there may be an urge to reduce the existing backlog, then we need to take this route as a short-cut to get rid of remandees. When we get to the Committee Stage, I think we will bring an amendment which will seek to make it very clear that the accused person should not lose his or her rights at all and they should be explained to him or her. In fact, we need to ensure that there is legal representation before there can be plea-bargaining. This is because, even now as it is with regard to murder cases which we have, there is a tendency that the prosecutors can overwhelm an accused person is and say, \"You know it is easier and cheaper for you to take this route.\" We must protect the rights of a person. Our emphasis should be on that one. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to compensation of victims, I really wonder whether we have given it sufficient thought that a person who robs another person is rarely in a position to compensate the victimised person. Does it mean that we then need to set a fund from which victims can be compensated? It is fair enough to look at the accused persons and protect their rights. How do we propose to compensate victims of crime if, indeed, we are introducing that as part of the law? I think this Bill is timely, but as I said before, I believe that there is a lot of work that we still need to do. I am glad that I am a Member of the Departmental Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs. Perhaps, I should reserve some of my comments on the things I would like to urge to be done because I will state them in the relevant Departmental Committee. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}