By Abdelkarim Sillah
The legal year returns with its usual pomp and judicial pageantry bringing the entire legal fraternity together.
The colourful ceremony began with a procession gathering all legal practitioners from the lower and superior courts, members of the public and other stakeholders led by the Chief Justice Hassan B Jallow and the attorney general and justice minister Abubacarr Tambadou
The legal year is celebrated every year to stock of judicial delivery and map out a way forward to advance the work of the bench.
The past legal year has been a significant period for development with hundreds of new legal practitioners called to the Bar while dozens of Gambian lawyers also joined the bench as magistrates and judges of the high court
That undertaking was a robust effort to indigenize the judiciary which for the past two decades was dominated by foreign magistrates and judges.
Looking forward to a great year of legal activity, members of the bench and bar described the past legal year as successful.
The principal magistrate at Bundung Magistrate’s court appealed for more investment in capacity building to enhance effective delivery of judicial staff.
Senior lawyers who spoke to this medium including prominent lawyer and senior member of the Gambia Bar Association, former vice president, Ousainu Darboe hailed the legal year and growing independence of the Gambian judiciary.
With more Gambian lawyers called to the Bar, that the judiciary can effectively work towards reducing the backlog of cases in the lower and superior courts which has greatly affected judicial efficacy.
More Gambians in the bench and bar adds immense impetus to the judiciary and legal adjudication as the country moves to build and strengthen institutional independence.
