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

PART II - Justice Samatta’s Life Journey

PART II Justice Samatta’s Life Journey Hamudi Majamba This least harmful organ of the State must not weaken its resolve to protect the weak against the oppression or tyranny of the strong and the ruthless. Those exercising State power must never be left in doubt that transgression of the people’s basic rights will be met by the fury of the law. (Farewell speech delivered by Justice Samatta, on the occasion of his retirement, on 19th July, 2007, at the Court of Appeal grounds in Dar-es-Salaam, infra) 20 RULE OF LAW VERSUS RULERS OF LAW Introduction This part provides a succinct account of the biography of Justice Samatta’s judicial career. In particular, it traces the foundations of his judicious approach to personal life. It provides some highlights of his early childhood from informal to formal education delving upon some of the issues or circumstances that may have influenced his career path. Some of the challenges that he encountered in this journey and during his career are also explored. The information contained in this part has been extracted mainly from information obtained from Justice Samatta himself. In some cases, however, the information was obtained from his close associates and other sources. memoirs of Informal Education Justice Barnabas Albert Samatta was born in Ng’ombo village in Mbinga District on 20th July 1940. Mbinga is one of the five districts of the Ruvuma Region located in southern Tanzania. Mbinga’s neighbour to the North is Iringa Region and to its East the Songea Rural and Songea Urban Districts. To the South, Mbinga District shares a border with Mozambique and to the West with Malawi in Lake Nyasa, Mbinga District under the colonial regime was relatively remote and unknown. Justice Samatta’s parents, Mwalimu Cuthbert Samatta and Mary Julia Kayuza were a teacher and housewife, respectively. The Justice is the last born in a family of five, (three brothers and a sister). His eldest maternal uncle, Mwalimu Charles Kayuza, a teacher by profession, took the responsibility of raising young Samatta after the death of his fatherwhen young Samatta was only nine years old. The uncle’s young brothers, Mwalimu Barnabas Kayuza and Mwalimu Julius Kayuza assisted him in discharging that responsibility. Mwalimu Charles Kayuza often played a direct role in resolving disputes amongst the villagers at the village level. According to Justice Samatta, the uncle was an old hand at this trade. He was a devout man and a great believer in fairness and orderliness. It is therefore not surprising that the late Mwalimu Charles Kayuza was oneof the earliest inspirational figures of young Samatta and who played some role in determining young Samatta’s career path. Like most youngsters who grew up in a typical African village setup , Justice Samatta adored playing football. Aside from his love of football, he occasionally spent some time swimming and fishing in Lake Nyasa and some of the big rivers that flowed into it. He also took part in the Mganda dance, a popular traditional dance that traces its origin in military drill, common in Ruvuma region, Mozambique, Zambia JUStICE SAmAttA’S LIFE JOURNEY 21 and Malawi, Tanzania’s neigbours to the south.27 The adoration for the traditional dance may explain the serious and intimidating looks that some acquaintances and other people have associated with him.28 According to the Justice, one of the major challenges he faced during his childhood was the threat of crocodiles in Lake Nyasa and the big rivers. During the rainy season, Justice Samatta recalls lions roaming the village at night, leading to most villagers retiring early to bed. He notes that he had to take extra care when swimming, crossing rivers or fishing. Also, due to the caution taken to avoid the African jungle there were no casualties. Little did the young Samatta know that the challenges posed by the crocodiles and lions would re-emerge, in a somehow different version, but requiring a much similar form of courage, caution and calculation, in the course of his judicial career.29 Althoughhedoesnotexplicitlystateso,JusticeSamattaisalsoadevout person. Some of his most memorable moments during childhood and his conduct during adult life attest to this. The influence of religion on his up-brining is reflected in what he describes as the honour accorded to him by the Head teacher of his primary school to read a lesson at a Sunday church service when he was in standard four...