Retired judiciary officers on contract must vacate – magistrate

SUN REPORTER WRITES

MAGISTRATE Benjamin Mwelwa has complained to the Constitutional Court that he is one of the officers in the judiciary who have not been appointed Resident Magistrate because the positions are being occupied by retired officers.

In this matter, Mr Mwelwa has petitioned the Constitutional Court to order that contracts given to retired judicial officers must be terminated.

He is also demanding that the retired officers should pay back salaries or allowances, insisting that  they have been earning them illegally.

Mr Mwelwa, who is Livingstone magistrate, has cited Attorney General Likando Kalaluka as the respondent in the matter.

Recently, the State through Judiciary Chief Registrar Charles Kafunda argued that Mr Mwelwa had failed to cite the provisions of the law that prohibits the retaining of a retired judiciary officer on a contractual basis.

Mr Kafunda stated that Article 145 of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No.2 of 2016 provided that a judiciary officer shall retire at 65 years and also that a such an officer may retire with full benefits on attaining the age of 55 years.

He argued that the petitioner’s argument that offering contracts to retired judiciary officers was counterproductive, discriminatory, demotivating and unconstitutional, was a misapprehension of the law.

And in his reply to Mr Kafunda’s answer, Mr Mwelwa insisted that any contract offered to retired judiciary officers was not legally enforceable and whatever income those who had been retired earned must be paid back to the treasury.

“There are many magistrates after being admitted to the bar and I am one of those magistrates who have not been appointed Resident Magistrates for the judiciary not having positions and yet the positions are being held or occupied by the retired judicial officers,” read his reply.

The magistrate stated that he was entitled to all the reliefs sought in his petition.