PPP calls for swift appointment of more judges

Nov 15, 2016 News

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has expressed concern about recent developments in the judiciary.
The Party in a statement yesterday outlined concerns over the shortage of judges which it says “has been affecting the Administration of Justice to the detriment of our citizens”.
“We are aware that there are dire shortages of judges in the judicial system. We are also aware, that the Judicial Service Commission has made recommendations to the President for the appointment of several judges to the High Court and the Court of Appeal several months ago.
“But to date no such appointment has been made. A reasonable inference that one can draw is that the nominees of the JSC do not meet the approval of the Executive. This is quite unfortunate because the approval of the Executive of the nominees for the JSC is not a Constitutional requirement.”
The Party went on to note that the retirement of Chief Justice Ian Chang (SC) has created quite a void in the judicial system.
The PPP stressed that the Chief Justice was replaced by the Justice of Appeal, Mrs. Yonette Cummings-Edwards, thereby leaving the Court of Appeal, a three-member Court, with only two judges.
“Every time the Court of Appeal sits, a Judge from the High Court is required to leave all of his/her cases in the High Court to go to the Court of Appeal. The consequences are chaotic in the High Court.”
The Party also noted that it was under the Ramotar administration that the complement of the judges of the High Court was increased from twelve to twenty, specifically, to avoid these types of problems.
“We also feel compelled to point out that the work of the crucial Constitutional and Administrative Law Court is severely affected by this situation. This is a specialized Court which was established to exclusively hear and determine, with dispatch, allegations of the citizens’ of constitutional violations and abuse of power by the executive branch and by public officers.”
In the circumstances, the Opposition group called on President David Granger to swiftly act upon the recommendations of the Judicial Service Commission as he is obliged to do under the Constitution of Guyana.
Earlier this year, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, recently emphasized the need for improving the perception of fairness in the Constitutional Court and for eliminating the backlog of cases in the judicial system.
Williams had reaffirmed Government‘s position that the Constitutional and Commercial Courts, both manned by one Judge, require additional adjudicators.
The AG said, “We believe there should be an additional Judge in the Commercial court and the Constitutional court. We will also make moves to deal with the case of insufficient Judges in the Court of Appeal as well. This is a serious matter for me.
“With only one Judge in those important Courts, it would obviously lead to a backlog of more cases in the system and the Judges being overwhelmed. I intend to address that,” he said.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News