Rule of Law vs. Rulers of Law. Justice Barnabas Albert Samatta's Road To Justice: Justice Barnabas Albert Samatta's Road To Justice

PART I - Justice Samatta’s Road to Justice: An Introduction

PART I Justice Samatta’s Road to Justice: An Introduction Issa Shivji & Hamudi Majamba The road to justice is the only road a judicial officer should travel on. He or she must not even contemplate travelling on the road to political convenience or compromise of principles. (Justice Samatta’s farewell speech on the occasion of his retirement, 19th July 2007, Court of Appeal Grounds, Dar-es-Salaam) 2 RULE OF LAW VERSUS RULERS OF LAW Introduction Mr. Justice Barnabas Albert Samatta retired from the bench in July 2007 after a distinguished legal career spanning 41 years. Of the four decades of active life, he was a State Attorney for a decade, half of which he was the Director of Public Prosecutions. For the rest of the period, he was at the bench of the High Court of Tanzania and ten years in the Court of Appeal, the highest court of the land. At his retirement, he had spent seven years as the Chief Justice of the country, thus at the helm of one of the three major branches of the State. Unlike the ‘mother country’, Britain, from whom Tanzania inherited its judicial system, the country has a written Constitution, which prescribes separation of powers in Article 4. Justice Samatta has the distinction of being the first Chief Justice to have graduated from the country’s first local university. His predecessor, the late Justice Francis Nyalali, a first generation post-independence lawyer, was trained at the London Inns of Courts. Nyalali was among the first ten or so young men sent to Britain to study law just when independence was around the corner. In this book, we have reproduced some of the leading judgments written by Justice Samatta. What comes through every page of the judgments,papersandspeechesistheJustice’sextremeconscientiousness in discharging his judicial duty and dispensing justice. Barnabas Samatta took his judicial oath seriously thus becoming a role model for the younger generation. At a farewell seminar held by his alma mater, the University of Dar es Salaam, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rwekaza Mukandala, recalled the first time he saw the former Chief Justice. Justice Samatta was then prosecuting a case in the Tabora High Court. The young man Rwekaza had played truant to attend court sessions. He was sitting in the public gallery. When he saw and heard Samatta arguing, he told himself: I wish to be a lawyer like Mr. Samatta. In the event, he did not become a lawyer; instead he chose the less arduous path of a political scientist! In this short essay, we cannot do full justice to the illustrious judicial writings of Justice Samatta; instead we will only highlight, in a criticalfashion, some of the high points of his beliefs and observations as embedded in his decisions and speeches. As life-long academic teachers at the Faculty of Law, University of Dar es Salaam, we believe the life and career of a high judicial officer should be an example to the younger generation of lawyers. In our situation, the legal profession, whether at the Bar or the bench, is perceived in a very negative light. JUStICE SAmAttA’S ROAd tO JUStICE: AN INtROdUCtION 3 Often this is not without reason, notwithstanding the protestations by lawyers about the nobility of their profession. Lack of integrity and unethical practices among some practicing lawyers, allegations of corruption against the bench and State Attorneys are not uncommon. Aggrieved members of the public perhaps may exaggerate their stories, but, even if the allegations contained a grain of truth, it is bad enough. When some of us who have practised at the Bar can vouchsafe that in real life there is more than a grain of truth in these charges and perceptions, it is worse. Thus, an example of an ethical lawyer whose integrity cannot be questioned, however solitary, should be advertised from the rooftops in the hope that it will be seen as a worthy role model for the young generation to emulate and draw inspiration from. Mr. Justice Barnabas Samatta is such an example. Rule of Law and Constitutionalism It would be fair to say that many of Justice Samatta’s decisions, especially at the bench of the Court of Appeal, are in criminal cases. This may have something to do with the fact that he practised as a State Attorney for almost a decade during the time when the majority of a State Attorney’s workload was...