By Mama A. Touray
The Chief Justice of The Gambia Honorable Hassan B. Jallow, has disclosed that 8,882 new cases were registered across the country in 2021.
Speaking at the Opening of the Legal Year, Chief Justice Jallow said “in 2021, a total of eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-two new cases were registered across all the courts, as the case workload continues to be heavy, with new cases constantly being filed, in 2021 a total of eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-two cases were registered across all the courts.”
According to him, during the same period the courts were able to dispose off four thousand eight hundred and twenty-two cases.
However, he thanked the efforts made by the judges, magistrates, cadis and panel members, members of staff as members of the bar.
“But an indicator shows too that much needs to be done by way of strengthening the judiciary with additional court rooms, human resources and other facilities by encouraging other alternative ways of resolving disputes to supplement the judicial process,” he said.
In order to decongest the prisons and accelerate the hearing of criminal cases, he said, the judiciary also devoted the months of July and August 2021 exclusively to the hearing and determination of criminal cases, particularly of those in remand custody. This exercise which was initiated in 2019 will continue with another session to be scheduled this year after the Easter vacation of the courts.
“We are very conscious that there is room for further improvement of this good record in case management by the courts in order to reduce if not eliminate avoidable delays and dispose of cases more expeditiously,” he added.
“Thus, in June to July 2021 we organized a retreat for judges and magistrates at which we sought to identify the factors causing delays in the courts and the measures we, as judicial officers, can take to prevent or to reduce such delays and to expedite the process of justice” he stated.
He went on that punctuality, regular attendance, and avoidance of unnecessary adjournments, more efficient scheduling of cases, better control of court proceedings by judicial officers and timely delivery of decisions and judgement were identified as some of the simple, practical but critical measures within our means, all of them the judges and magistrates have committed themselves to these measures.
“I shall shortly be issuing a practice direction pursuant to section 143 subsection 1 of the constitution to give effects of this commitment, I once again call all judicial officers to implement these measures fully,” he added.
