Speech by the President of the Republic, Denis Sassou-N'Guesso :

Mr. First President of the Supreme Court; Mr. Attorney General;

Four years after the proclamation of the Republic of the Congo, our country has a Supreme Court which, from the outset, has been committed to its development and modernization.

For 62 years now, the Supreme Court has towered over the pinnacles of Congolese justice, along a path marked by major advances. For this reason, the Supreme Court's first formal judicial hearing is an annual opportunity for the country's highest court to report on its activities.

This judicial event, which is part of the customs and traditions of the highest judicial or administrative jurisdictions, enables the Supreme Court to put an end to its long lethargy, and to be held accountable for its activities.

This requirement of accountability takes on its full scope when the right to sue and to have justice done is enshrined in our Constitution.

Indeed, in exercising their sovereignty, the Congolese people have adopted a triptych which underpins the veracity and effectiveness of our democracy, through :

• executive power ;
• legislative power ;
• judicial power.

The judicial power is enshrined in the Constitution of October 25, 2015.

hat's why justice is neither a slogan nor a figment of the imagination. Rather, it is a real need, the satisfaction of which is measured by what the city and the parties involved in the various trials say.

Free, independent, fair and equitable justice, delivered by magistrates who are, in every respect, worthy of trust, remains an ongoing quest that places the triumph of the rule of law above all else.

That's why the law is binding on you, which means it must be strictly observed.

Respecting the law is therefore a sacred duty for judges.

I therefore refer you to your duties as judges in terms of good legal and judicial governance and the proper administration of justice.

The eradication of all the anti-values I have constantly denounced remains, to this day, a topical issue.

The administration of justice must inscribe it on the pediment of courthouses and in its offices, and make it a permanent agenda item in its daily work.

I would also urge you to make fundamental improvements to the time taken to bring cases to trial.

You must combat the slowness that erodes the image of justice, eats away at its reputation and can, if we are not careful, ruin its credibility in the eyes of public opinion.

With nearly a thousand magistrates on duty in the courts and tribunals, and awaiting the arrival of new auditeurs de justice, the challenge of speed and efficiency in handling cases can and must be won.

Clearly, I unreservedly proscribe hasty and precipitate justice, often with an ulterior motive.

This is not the justice that the Congolese State expects for its People and all those who have chosen our country as their home.

Your responsibility, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Judiciary, to work to curb all forms of criminal behaviour is limited only by the advent of an era of greater confidence in yourselves and in the justice system of which you are the main architects.

 

Mr. First President of the Supreme Court; Mr. Attorney General;

 

In view of the foregoing, let us agree that justice is also a regulator for the economy, particularly in that it provides investors, entrepreneurs and development partners with the legal security and guarantees expected and hoped for under the rule of law.

Since ancient times, magistrates have always been exposed to the virus of corruption.

In Ancient Greece, for example, the offence of venality targeted magistrates, among others, when it came to rendering accounts.

Plato severely condemns corruption, demanding that, and I quote, "those who perform some function for the City must perform it without receiving a gift".

He then lays down the law "not to accept gifts on the occasion of a public service. Anyone who does not obey will, once convinced, be put to death without remission". End of quote.

 

Nowadays, the State systematically loses all lawsuits that affect its interests.

The same is true of big business.

I would like to turn to the bailiffs responsible for enforcing decisions and other sentences.

To their attention, I reiterate that the mission of pursuing the enforcement of legal decisions cannot be accommodated with all that we have been witnessing lately. In particular, the exorbitant fees charged by bailiffs to losing parties.

To this must be added their propensity and relentlessness to seize the bank accounts of losing parties, rendering them, in their entirety, insusceptible to any movement.

Some bailiffs are notorious for these shameless practices, anticipating or never waiting for the effects of an appeal to the Supreme Court, let alone the end of the proceedings.

Such behavior, which does little credit to the judicial system, has led to the collapse and ruin of entire sectors of the national economy in other countries.

In the Congo, economic operators need to feel secure when it comes to their activities, hence the need to constantly strive to improve the business climate.

Like the magistrate, the judicial officer must be a man of honor, respectful of the laws and rules of his profession.

It is here that the foundation of trust and confidence is built, the attractiveness of which drives the mobilization of foreign investment in the Congo. This is the responsibility of the judiciary, which has done too much damage to the image and credibility of our country in the eyes of development partners.

 

Mr. First President of the Supreme Court; Mr. Attorney General;

Legal and judicial certainty and security can only result from the relevance of decisions rendered in all matters.

This is a reminder of your duty of impartiality, without which the independence of magistrates would become a vain pretension.

This is why disinterestedness, impartiality and fairness, to name but a few moral values, are and must remain, at all times and in all circumstances, the judge's credo.

You must also make it your duty to ensure that the mechanisms designed to enforce any convictions or sentences handed down by you, integrate the fundamental concerns of our judicial system.

The Supreme Court must have a clear doctrine resulting from the consistent application and interpretation of our laws. It must publish its rulings so that the courts of first instance and appeal are familiar with them, become imbued with them and use them to give a harmonized and regulated image of our justice system.

The obligation to give reasons for judicial decisions must be made sacrosanct. No magistrate can evade it.

Respect for the sacrosanct principle of adversarial proceedings must be one of the cornerstones of our judicial system.

I am often reminded that people who have never appeared before a court may have been convicted, but were only made aware of the fact when the decision was being enforced against them.

Such practices are a disgrace to our justice system, and do not create the confidence that the people should have in their justice system.

For their part, flagrante delicto hearings must be rehabilitated according to the rules of the art.

 

Mr. First President of the Supreme Court; Mr. Attorney General;

To eradicate the above-mentioned dysfunctions, the Magistrates' Disciplinary Commission must function as a genuine incentive to the duty of probity, exemplarity, hard work and quality.

The aim is to protect the judiciary against any behavior that might damage its prestige, influence and good standing.

To this end, the management of magistrates' careers must be based on the relevant texts of our positive law, and cease to be the object of fantasies driven by corporatist impulses.

There are no unions in the justice system. The Constitution is very edifying on this subject. The prohibition on unionizing, like that imposed on members of the police force, is recognition of the fact that both the judiciary and the police force are pillars of the State and the Nation.

Every magistrate must be aware that, in every nation, justice must, through the relevance of its decisions, convince, reassure and reassure, in short, show its usefulness and, in this way, participate in the progress of the nation.

In this respect, discipline within public prosecutors' offices is essential to the proper administration of justice.

 

I encourage you to persevere in your hard and consistent work, so that future statistics and all other reports on the operation of courts and tribunals will be more eloquent from now on.

 

To you, bâtonniers and lawyers of the various bar associations, your role in ensuring quality justice is eminent and recognized.

While guaranteeing your independence, I urge you to give the best of yourselves, so that from contradiction springs justice, i.e. decisions whose relevance will be the pride of our judicial system.

Clerks and other judicial staff, you are the collaborators of the magistrates to ensure that justice is done efficiently.

For this judicial year, I would like to see an intensification of efforts to modernize our judicial system, including better organization of work within the courts and tribunals. I dare to believe that the weaknesses deplored in terms of work effort, as well as on a strictly ethical and moral level, will be no more than distant bad memories, gone forever. Justice must take its rightful place in the great national task of building the rule of law.

 

Thank you very much.