IT is to the courts that citizens turn when all else fails. The standards of members of the judiciary therefore have a direct bearing on the quality of justice. How judges perform and the seriousness with which they take their role reaffirms the faith people have in democracy.
Increasingly, however, there have been serious concerns over the uprightness of judges and the influences they might be coming under. The very system of appointments has been called into question. A collegium of judges which selects judges has been criticized as being too much of a club behind closed doors and beyond public scrutiny.