NCHITO SCHOOLS JUDGES
…Urges them to resist pressure, uphold rule of law
By George Zulu
JUDGES must be independent because it is their responsibility to uphold the rule of law on behalf of the people, State Counsel Nchima Nchito has said.
Nchito said judicial independence is the core value of a just society.
He was speaking during the 2026 Bar-Bench Conference under the theme ‘A future-Ready Justice System: Safeguarding Judicial Independence and Ethical Practice in the Changing Legal Landscape’.
Nchito said judges had a responsibility to uphold the rule of law by exhibiting high levels of integrity in the conduct of their constitutional duty.
“A judge who is independent is not one who is untouchable or indeed unaccountable, but rather one who is free to be accountable to the law alone. Lord Bingham …. said about judicial independence that … it is freedom from improper influence emanating from government, politicians, the media, litigants, pressure groups or even senior members of the judiciary,” he said.
Nchito said the demand for judicial independence was not a gift from the Judiciary but a constitutional birthright.
“It is a constitutional birthright of each one of us as Zambians that we enshrine in the people that we give the powers to adjudicate conflicts between us, and I think that it is important that the powers that be understand that we are not asking for a privilege,” he said.
Nchito called for an independent Judiciary that would respond to the needs of the people in the administration of justice without political interference.
He said the nation was at a crossroads, faced with an uphill battle of elections whose results would be contested and required courts to resolve grievances in a just manner.
“There will be election petitions, whether they be parliamentary or presidential or indeed council. I mean petitions, all those in that order will come. Now I think that for me, my starting point is the fact that we must first deal with what judicial independence is and one of the things that we ought to be sure about judicial independence is that it is not the privilege of the judges. Judicial independence is the right of the people of Zambia,” Nchito said.
He said judges should realise that citizens run to courts seeking justice.
The rule of law was a pedestal of justice, good governance and constitutionalism and therefore, justice could only be achieved if the Judiciary was independent.
Nchito said Zambians were not begging for the independence of the Judiciary.
It was a constitutional requirement.
“We are not begging when we ask that they ensure that our Judiciary is independent. We are claiming our right and that right must be given to us,” he said.
He said the Judiciary might find itself in a battle because of interference from within or outside.
Nchito warned that such conduct exposed the Judiciary to public ridicule and political interference.
“… justice must not only be done but it must be seen to be done and a judge who is independent is one who truly uh and entirely submits to the law and the law alone,” he said.
He also urged lawyers to preserve the dignity of the courts and the law.
Nchito urged lawyers to always protect the sanctity of the courts by avoiding to embarrass the institution through filing what he called vexatious or politically motivated applications.
“In the same vein a lawyer who files vexatious or politically motivated applications to embarrass a court or who makes inflammatory public statements about a judge while a matter is pending or who manufactures a crisis to delay the proceeding unfortunately,” he said.
