I have been following the news about municipal elections with considerable interest.
The newspapers are full of stories about the election process and advertisements from the various candidates.
I cannot help feeling that all this is like someone who spends considerable time and effort to landscape his garden well, while his house is on fire.
Let me tell you a story.
A number of years ago I started a company with a partner. This company was for the purpose of importing grain and livestock into the Kingdom.
My partner defrauded me out of several millions and I took him to court and began the process of liquidation of the company.
It took nine years, I repeat nine years. After which the court finally ruled in my favor.
This is one of the salient features of the legal system in this country.
Judges are extremely thorough spending years, even decades, examining a case from every possible angle. It has been known for successive judges, plaintiffs and defendants to die before the case was finally decided.
We have very, very, very careful judges!
Anyway, for the last three years I have been waiting for the court to issue me with the ruling.
This is a deed-like document that asserts that the judgment is in my favor so I will be able to use it to get my rights.
Repeated attempts to obtain the document have all failed.
I have recently discovered the reason; it seems the court has lost all trace of my case from their files!
Fancy that!
What makes this a terrible thing is that I am by no means an exception. This kind of thing occurs routinely in our courts.
So, while democracy is all fine, it is important to keep in mind that on its own it is meaningless.
On its own democracy is incapable of either providing or protecting a people’s rights.
To do that we must have respect for the rule of law; and we must have a strong, independent and honest judiciary.
If we are serious about the reforms this country needs, I believe that we must start by reforming the judicial system first. All other reforms will then follow logically.
