The Ethiopian constitution has three branches of government. These are the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. Three of them check and balance their powers to make the government effectively functional.
The Judiciary interprets the law, resolves conflicts and applies the law according to the constitution of the country.
Besides, it endeavors to ensure equal justice, liberty and freedom for all citizens based on the law. However, to realize its goal, the judiciary should be strictly independent, impartial and not politically affiliated to a certain group of people.
It should act based on a transparent and accountable way. When we see the judiciary system of Ethiopia, it was not independent and impartial in the previous regimes.
It had been serving for the interest of the ruling class and their cronies. It had not been working in favor of the people to address human right violations, oppression and malpractices.
It had been manipulated by individuals easily. However in the past ten months, a glimmer of hope is flickering,for the judiciary will serve the public independently.
After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office, many drastic reforms have been undertaken. So far, he gave pardon for political prisoners, showed a green light for formerly terrorists labeled groups to practice their political agenda freely, fired corrupt and human right violators and brought them to justice.
The diplomatic relations being undertaken in the last ten months were incredibly successful which got international recognition and appreciation.
As a result, Prime Minister Abiy has been highly hailed by the international community for his courageous measures. Besides, he is reforming government structures at all levels.
Among the government structures, which were not independent is the judiciary system. Ethiopian courts were not independent before the reform took place. However, after the peaceful transfer of power, there is huge improvement in ensuring judicial independence.
Judges are practicing their profession without interference of government officials. This would be taken as pivotal milestone in building democracy and democratic institutions.
Abebaw Getaneh Communication Affairs Director at Federal Justice Legal Research and Training Institute tells The Ethiopian Herald that new highly committed and devoted leadership is being instituted which is capable of sustaining the ongoing change through improving the judiciary system.
He added that several reforms are being implemented to create public trust and consensus towards the justice system of the country.
‘‘The public wasn’t happy when it comes to the impartiality of justice system before the reform took place. There were many complaints for delivering a fair justice system.
Now, we are working to address them and to bring drastic change from supreme court to Kebele level. Besides, concerted efforts are being exerted to build the awareness of the public towards fighting for wrongdoings.
In addition to this, we are working to build the professional capacity of judges and lawyers,’’ he notes. According to him, the institute has displayed encouraging success stories over the last six months.
The performance being exhibited shows that there is a promising improvement in ensuring a fair and independent judiciary system and this would pave a way for safeguarding the rule of law and the right of citizens.
‘‘Over the last 27 years and before, the people haven’t trust on the judiciary. There were lots of human right violations which didn’t get fair justice. This created contempt and frustration among the general public that the courts couldn’t fulfill public interest.
We are working to change such attitude and we are designing legal framework that would modernize the judiciary. We are tirelessly endeavoring to build independent judiciary that would create public trust,’’ he states.
Adding ‘‘so far, the comments we are receiving indicates that we are doing great job. But, we should have to step up our efforts until we realize our goals.’’ As far as capacity building is concerned, judges and lawyers have been offering trainings that could enhance their ethics and professionalism, according him.
‘‘There were problems with professional ethics of judges before nine months. The problems are related with lack of knowledge and unethical activities.
The limitations are already identified and we are working to rectify them. Judges and lawyers are being offered trainings that could enhance their profession which would support them to serve the people in skill and professional ethics.’’
The constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) article 79 (2) states that ‘‘courts of any level shall be free from any interference of influence of any governmental body, government official or from any other source.’’ However, what is written in the constitution and its implementation was not the same before drastic political change was ensured ten months ago.
The unreformed EPRDF has been violating the constitution especially the independence of judiciary. The constitution offers huge power to the judiciary system though it was not free to safeguard the human right of citizens due to interference from government officials and other influential people, Solomon Arega, Law Lecturer at Addis Ababa explains.
‘‘An independent judiciary plays very decisive role in realizing accountability, addressing impartiality and advocating human rights. The constitution has given courts the power to exercise their power without interference of government or private body, though the reality says otherwise.
This scenario has been created problems in serving the public,’’ he insists. Solomon adds that to maintain the institutional independence in practice, the judiciary which was exercised over the last 27 years was not only independent but also has not adequate finance and logistics. Thus, it has not been fulfilling its responsibility in an effective manner.
‘‘There were bribes given for manipulating the justice system. Judges were influenced by money which hampered the independence of judiciary. Not only this, there was lack of facilities to undertake legal activities. Having understood all these limitations, the reform should pay attention for this big issue.’’
Amanuel Getachew, a lawyer in Addis Ababa consolidates Solomon’s point that the implementation of free, fair and independent judiciary system was nowhere in sight during the last 27 years. He regrets that Ethiopians had no privilege of the judiciary system over the last 27 years. Due to this reasons, many of them were facing material loss and being locked behind bars.
‘‘A mockery of justice was there before Prime Minister Abiy came to power. There were kangaroo courts which have been giving verdict without substantial evidence and legal framework. They have been violating basic legal procedures,’’ he says, adding: ‘‘there wasn’t strong mechanism to make them accountable when they arbitrarily give verdict. Hence, many innocent Ethiopians had been deprived justice for their violated rights.’’
Even there are times that an official could call judges and ordered them what they should do and what kind of decision they should pass, he notes. Now, the wind of hope, justice, liberty and democracy is blowing.
All Ethiopians are freely exercising their right without intimidation and detention. Moreover, the judiciary is becoming independent to safeguard human and democratic rights of citizens. Thus, the involvement of all pertinent stakeholders should be exerted to further consolidate it.
Herald March 24/2019
BY TSEGAY HAGOS
