Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
ZIMBABWE’s success story of digitising its courts through the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) has attracted the attention of many African countries since its inception in 2022, with Liberia placing herself on the list.
JSC launched the IECMS in phases and is now in its fourth phase of digitising magistrate’s courts.
On Monday, a delegation from the Judiciary Branch of the Government of Liberia landed in the country for a 10-day visit to benchmark on the IECMS.
The delegation, led by the Director of Public Information, Strategic Planning and Development in the Supreme Court of Liberia Councillor Darrly Ambrose Nmar (Sr), yesterday visited Chief Justice Luke Malaba at his offices in Harare.
During the visit, the delegation is expected to tour the country’s upper and lower courts, which are already using the e-system.
Speaking after the meeting, JSC secretary Mr Walter Chikwana expressed excitement in hosting the delegation.
“We got to understand that they have an almost similar court structure with Zimbabwe and also their enthusiasm in digitisation resonates with the vision of the Chief Justice and what the Judicial Service Commission in Zimbabwe has been trying to do over the years.
“They come here to benchmark and understand how we have managed to deploy the IECM system in our superior courts.
“The successes that we have scored, but more fundamental of course, the challenges that we have faced so that they can learn from the mistakes that we have made and the challenges that we have come across for them to have an even more spectacular and perfect system.
“So, we are looking forward, we are excited to be hosting the Liberians and we are looking forward to the exchanging of ideas,” he said.
Mr Chikwana indicated that, as the JSC, they learnt a lot from the Liberian team.
“Yes, they came to benchmark, but also we learn a lot from the discussions that we are having with them.
“So for the next 10 days it will be quite exciting as we host the delegation and have this cross-pollination of ideas and ideals that judiciaries are following throughout Africa,” he said.
Councillor Darrly Ambrose Nmar (Sr) indicated they visited Zimbabwe to study the digitisation of the courts and the processes.
He indicated that the judiciary in Liberia will soon be embarking on the same process.
Cllr Nmar (Sr) said yesterday’s discussions with the Chief Justice were fruitful and enlightening.
“We have come to see the essence of coming here because he shared with us and we believe that Africa has the solution to African problems.
“Now that we have this interaction between the judiciary of Zimbabwe and that of Liberia, we can learn their processes that will strengthen ours, so that we can begin to solve our problems in Africa by using African solutions,” he said.
Cllr Nmar (Sr) believes Zimbabwe has taken a great step in digitising its courts.
“We think that Zimbabwe has taken a great step forward, and so we have come to share knowledge and learn a lot as we get onto the same process of digitising our court systems.
“We believe that because our court structures are similar to that of Zimbabwe, and the processes, we believe, are processes that best suit our system.
“So that is why we have come to Zimbabwe and we believe that their processes, to understand their system and their processes, they will be able to improve ours,” he said.
Cllr Nmar (Sr) indicated that they first visited Rwanda, but the structures did not suit their requirement.
“So we believe that having almost the same system will work better for us,” he said.
Mozambique and Zambia have since visited the country to benchmark the country’s e-system.
