Law Association Praises President Over Female Judges

29 April 2011

THE Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has praised President Rupiah Banda for his announcement that he would continue appointing more female judges to the bench.

LAZ president, Stephen Lungu told the Times in Ndola yesterday that the move was highly commendable as that would help more women hold high positions in the legal profession.

He said the appointment of more women judges would contribute to the development of law in Zambia and was a good move for the judiciary which had been facing some difficulties in the appointment of judges.

“The move is highly commendable as it would greatly contribute to law development in the country, it is good to know that more women in the legal profession would be able to hold high positions,” he said.

And non-governmental organisation coordinating committee chairperson, Beatrice Grillo said the move by the president to appoint more women judges was in the right direction.

She said that judges in Zambia were not enough and the appointment of the women judges would help reduce the shortage of judges who were crucial to the dispensation of justice in Zambia.

Ms Grillo said the president should take a step further and appoint a female chief justice for Zambia as the time had come when Zambia needed to have a female at the helm of the judiciary.

She called on other sectors to appoint more women to positions of authority unlike the case now where women had lower positions.

The Women-in-Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) has praised Mr Banda for pledging to continue appointing female judges.

WILDAF programme coordinator Khuta Hanyama said yesterday the association was pleased thatMr Banda had appointed female judges during his tenure of office and that he would continue doing so.

Ms Hanyama said appointing female judges would ensure that more women held positions of influence in the judiciary that they would appropriately use to address gender issues.

“Having more women of influence in the judiciary will ensure that certain cases that border on gender-based violence are addressed accordingly,” she said.

Ms Hanyama said more women judges would influence the way matters of gender-based violence were addressed in Zambia.

She said her organisation was optimistic that the president would also implement the Southern African Development Community agreement, which stated that a country’s Cabinet should have 30 per cent female representation and also sign the Gender Violence Bill.

Ms Hanyama said implementing the two would boost the status of women in Zambia.

Mr Banda on Wednesday said when he addressed the International Association of Women Judges Africa regional conference in Livingstone that he would continue appointing women judges to add on the 15 he had appointed since he was elected president in 2008.

AllAfrica – All the Time