GIVE US OUR MONEY
Court Clerks demand as state calls for Justice Diwanga’s recusal
THE Attorney General has thrown another curve ball in the marathon case which the Industrial Court Bench Clerks (formerly Court Interpreters) have taken their employer to court demanding the implementation of the 2008 revised Public Service Pay Structure.
The 2008 Directive abolished Parallel Progression Policy, which was replaced by the Attraction and Retention Policy for the Public Service.
Bench Clerks are challenging their reassignation which they said started with so much promise only to end in disappointment and shattered dreams.
In an interview with The Voice, concerned clerks said while reassignation was supposed to address concerns over lack of progression in court as per the 2008 Directive by the then Permanent Secretary to the President, Eric Molale, it did not achieve the desired outcome.
“They’ve failed to implement the newly adopted Directorate of Public Service Management ( DPSM) structure,” said a concerned clerk.
“There has been no benefit for former Court Interpreters, we only had a name change,” she said bitterly.
“For us, it’s even worse because we’re employees of the Industrial Court, and it is the only court that can hear this matter,” she said.
Their counterparts at the High Court have also registered a similar case with the Industrial Court.
The matter, which was supposed to go for trial on the 4th of June, was postponed to June 25th.
“When this matter was postponed, the Attorney General was represented by Attorney Grenorrah Begane and discussions to settle out of court were at an advanced stage,” The Voice learnt.
However, last Friday, when the matter came back to court, Begane was nowhere to found, in fact, AG was represented by private Attorney, Mboki Chilisa.
Chilisa immediately went to work, filing an application for the recusal of Justice Diwanga.
Although the applicant’s attorney, Maswabi Maswabi, indicated that he was ready to proceed with trial, he did not object to the application by the respondent’s attorney.
“We accept the application under protest,” said a visibly disappointed Maswabi.
Later outside court, a concerned clerk said, it is still a mystery why the State does not want Justice Diwanga in this matter.
“We’re still shocked. Even more puzzling is why AG decided to dump Begane for a private attorney. Could this be a way of saying they don’t have faith in their own legal brains?” she asked rhetorically.
In his ruling, Justice Diwanga ordered that the respondents should file their application for recusal by not later than the 9th of July while the applicants shall file their opposition by the 26th July.