By Teboho Serutla
Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane says Lesotho now has enough qualified judges that could be hired, rather than having to look out for foreign judges.
Sakoane suggested this in the special meeting of the National Reforms Authority (NRA) that was held at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre today, where he was addressing the members of NRA on the authority’s broad issues.
Clearly he observed that foreign judges outnumbered the local justices within the country’s courtrooms.
The Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) Commander, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela said that apart from compromising the national security, the foreign judges’ deployment is against the army’s grounding principles.
Letsoela urgedthat the national army should not receive discrimination from foreign judges as this undermined the army’s reputation.
Some members of NRA who were present in the meeting argued that deployment of foreign judges is crucial for transparency, since some of the local judges are being misused in some court cases.
Some of the issues that were addressed in the meeting were lack of necessary assistance such as funding, lack of necessary court resources, shortage of infrastructure such as electricity and proper building structure at the magistrate courts as well as lack of enough courtrooms in remote areas.
The interference of politicians within the administration of justice was also raised as a disturbing factor in judicial circles.
