President Michael Sata has directed Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba to ensure that justice is upheld for all citizens regardless of their class in society.

Mr Sata was speaking yesterday when he conferred Mr Kabimba with the honour of State Counsel.

The President said he had been to prison before and knew that most of the inmates were poor and illiterate people.

He said the country had a lot of problems which included justice only being for the rich.

"Don't let people fear the law but let the law protect the people," he said.

Mr Sata said there was also need to look at conditions of service for judges and other judiciary personnel in working towards achieving justice for all the people.

He said the men and women on the bench worked under deplorable conditions such as manpower shortage, and lack of court rooms and accommodation which should be looked into.

President Sata revealed that former Justice Minister Sebastian Zulu once asked him to fire a judge for not writing a judgment.

He said he could not do so because he understood the environment in which judges operated, adding that there were other judges who had retired without writing their judgments.

"Writing a judgment is not easy, we should also look at the conditions of service for judges," he said.

He also disclosed that there was someone at Railway Systems of Zambia who had threatened to take him to court over his directive that the Zambia Railways concession agreement should be re-examined.