MORUPISI CASE: A victory to corruption
“Because the land is a land of fear, a Judge must be without fear, so that justice may be done according to the Law; therefore, a Judge must be incorruptible.
“The Judge does not make the Law. It is the People that make the Law. Therefore, if a Law is unjust, and if the Judge judges according to the Law, that is justice, even if is not just.
“It is the duty of a Judge to do justice, but it is only the People that can be just. Therefore, if justice be not just, that is not to be laid at the door of the Judge, but at the door of the People, which means at the door of the White People, for it is the White People that make the law,” writes Alan Paton in his classic novel, Cry, the Beloved Country.
It is a befitting summation of Carter Morupisi’s sentence. An absolute mockery of justice. A resounding encouragement to elite corruption and thuggery.
I mean with such absurd sentences, who would not be encouraged to steal, absolutely no one. I mean, if one steals over a million Pula and gets sentenced to pay hundred thousand Pula, why would they not steal a million Pula? Morupisi’s sentence is a resounding victory to corruption.
In a democracy based on the rule of law, the role of the judiciary, as an independent and equal branch of government, is to protect human rights and civil liberties by ensuring the right to a fair trial by a competent and impartial tribunal.
All citizens expect equal access to the courts and equal treatment by the investigative bodies, prosecutorial authorities, and the courts, regardless of their position in society.
Yet, under most corrupt judicial systems, the powerful and wealthy can escape prosecution and conviction, while large segments of society are excluded from their rightful access to fair and effective judicial services.
When the foundation of receiving governmental goods and services is based on contacts rather than on merit, where appointment and promotion is a product of patronage, and professional success is achieved when the right connections are employed, citizens will gravitate to powerful individuals rather than succumb to the law to secure a self- serving outcome.
The perception of corruption is as insidious, and just as important to overcome, as corruption itself for they both produce the same results.
Citizens are less likely to abide by the law if they believe others, particularly governmental leaders, are disobeying the law and avoiding detection and punishment.
Aggrieved individuals will resort to “taking the law into their own hands” to resolve disputes rather than submit to a judicial system that is perceived to be dishonest and biased.
Until governmental leaders who publicly sidestep laws are prosecuted and convicted, the average citizen will consider himself foolhardy if he continues to abide by the very system his leaders are eschewing.
Foreign investors will shun those countries where the judicial system has the reputation of applying the law in an inconsistent and capricious manner.
In an increasingly global arena with highly competitive markets, the economic growth of countries with corrupt judiciaries, real and perceived, will be severely retarded.
Corruption within the justice system is difficult to expose and challenging to prove, which impedes prosecution of the corrupt behaviour.
Rather than view the judicial branch as a separate and equal branch of government with a democratic check on the other two branches, citizens often view the judicial branch, particularly judges, as being part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
As such, judges do not receive the same respect and prestige which accompanies their position in other countries. In Cry the Beloved Country, the judge explains that it is not his place to “fail to carry out the Law because the society is imperfect. If the Law is the law of a society that some feel to be unfair, it is the Law and the society that must be changed.”
We would like to think that there is some justice ( fairness) in the world. We hope that people who are good will be rewarded, while those who have committed evil acts will be punished.
However, Morupisi’s case is a living proof of the contrary.