Empty promises prove costly

THE Enga provincial government has just learned one very important lesson in good governance, albeit an expensive one – that is, to honour commitments and keep promises because a deal is a deal which can be challenged in a court of law if one party feels aggrieved.
Such was the case of K&L Bross Ltd and Justice Graham Ellis’ judgment last Thursday reflected the consequences of politicians’ decisions to renege on formal agreements.
In Enga, we have a case where a construction company completed road works at Wapenamanda more than nine years ago without being paid a single toea of the K46,010 owing.
The Enga provincial government was left to bear a financial burden because a promise made by a politician, a political rival of the succeeding head of the province, was not accompanied by payment.
That is unjust.
If politicians make promises to fund certain projects, they must pay up, the National Court of Justice should not have to intervene to force payment.
Furthermore, people have to spend time on court proceedings which should not have been necessary. 
It is clearly unjust that a company should have to wait 10 years or more to get paid and it is unjust that it should have to go through court proceedings in order to get paid.
In this whole fiasco, there was an unnecessary wastage of time and money. The addition of the 8% annual interest almost doubled the amount payable to K&L Bross Ltd.
When lawyers’ fees are added, the cost of this work will probably be three times the contract sum, according to Justice Ellis.
And, at a time when people are crying out for Government services, this is Government money which could have been better spent on things like roads, hospitals, schools and police.
Also, as the judge noted, the time of those who have had to work on these court proceedings could also have been better spent on other things. 
The judge not only referred to the time of people in the provincial government but the time of people in the National Court which, in cases such as this, is reduced to the role of a debt collection agency. The time which is spent on cases such as this could be better spent on reducing backlogs in the criminal lists so that people do not have to wait so long to have their cases heard. 
We agree that when judges speak out on occasions such as this, they are not telling politicians how to run the country, rather, they are saying that here is an area which needs improvement because this system is unjust and involves a significant waste of time and public money.
True, time needs to be devoted not only to questions of planning and promising but also to questions of
performing and paying.
Justice Ellis is clear that his remarks are not intended to be blaming and shaming, but they were intended to expose a need to get moving and improving in order that public time and money are not wasted.
Simply stated by judge Ellis in his ruling, it is unjust that people can be contracted to do work for the Government, at whatever level, and then not be paid for 10 years or more and have to “jump the hurdles” of a court case before getting paid. 
To continue the athletics analogy, what should be a 100m dash becomes a marathon. We couldn’t agree more.
It is sometimes said that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Justice Ellis has not overlooked that these legal proceedings started on July 6, 2001, almost nine years ago. No court case should take that long to finalise. 
That is why he took the view that, as a judge, he was in the business of providing a service “which is that of dispute resolution and that requires me to treat the parties to court proceedings as customers; customers who are entitled to good service”. 
As he aptly summed up: “Anyone who brings their dispute to the National Court of Justice is entitled to expect that there will be a just, quick and cheap resolution of that dispute.”
Nine years from start to finish is not good service. That is why cases must be regularly reviewed and delays, whether by the parties and/or their lawyers and/or the court, minimised.