Editor's Review

  • High Court judge Said Chitembwe shed tears during his appearance before the Judicial Service Commission panel.

High Court judge Said Chitembwe shed teras during his appearance before the Judicial Service Commission panel interviewing him for the Chief Justice job.

During the Monday interview, Chitembwe broke down while answering a question on a corruption case he faced in 2009 on the sale of land belonging to NSSF.

When responding to the question by the panel the judge's voice gave in as he fought back tears.

He was charged with abuse of office when he worked as the NSSF Corporation Secretary before joining the judiciary.

Personal Experiences

"When you go through the process you know better. My personal experience was me and the CEO of NSSF were prosecuted, then two lawyers joined the case with the intention to delay it, they filed the case to stop the hearing of the case," Chitembwe said.

Using his case as an example of how the courts are misused, Justice Chitembwe noted that other arms of government use the corridors of justice to delay cases and even settle scores, with some people being denied bail as was the case in his lawsuit.

"As you sit as a judicial officer, you should be able to sift out what has been brought for serving other purposes and what has been genuinely brought as a court case," he explained.