Faculty of Law

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Browsing Faculty of Law by Author "Byabato, Stephen"

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    Mal -administration of justice by ward tribunals in Tanzania: an assessment of their legal setup
    (Mzumbe University, 2016) Byabato, Stephen
    It is the duty of the government of the day to serve its citizens in a manner upon which the government can justify its presence in power and command to stay in power. In making sure it stays in power to save people, the government employ new means now and then to try to meet the needs of people in a speed, just, fair and low cost means. Way back to 1985 in Tanzania, there were established the Ward Tribunals (which are under the Executive arm of the state) for the purpose of lessening the bulk load of cases to the judicially, attaining the decisions of disputes at a great speed and low costs without much technicalities. With time, the functions of these Ward Tribunals have expanded from being the mainly mediation bodies to an institution giving a binding decision upon which the appeal from its decision can be preferred from the DLHT level until the Court of Appeal. There have been claims of these WTs to mishandle justice to the litigants before them. This Mal Administration of Justice is claimed to arise out of different corners, the major one being the legal setup of the WTs as established under the establishing Act. The researcher here conducted a research to determine how far the legal setup of the Ward Tribunal affects the administration of justice in disputes referred before. Choosing Bukoba District to be a survey study (specifically in Bakoba, Nshambya, Kashai, Nyakato and Karabagaine WTs), through observation, interviews and questionnaires, the researcher concentrated to find out as to how the administration of justice in the WTs is affected by their legal frame work on the aspects of members statutory qualifications in relation to the discharge of their functions, the Ward Tribunal's financial capacity to run itself, the controversy on the authority and procedure to discipline the WT members as a whole, and the proper discharge of the functions by the appropriate authorities as all of those are established under the establishing laws. The study draws a conclusion that there is Mal Administration of Justice in WTs caused by their legal setup under the establishing law on the aspects shown herein before. Lastly, this work recommends the major amendment of the establishing law and specifically on the areas of concern mentioned above, this being the best way to do away with the mal administration of justice by the Ward Tribunal in Tanzania.