By: Nicholas Bass
Chief justice Hassan B. Jallow on Tuesday has said that this years’ high court rules validation seeks to ultimately improve efficiency of the judiciary process in The Gambia.
Speaking at the opening of a three-day review workshop on the revised rules of practice and procedures of The Gambia High Court at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara InternationalConference Center in Bijilo, the chief justice explained that the workshop is part of the implementation of the judiciary’s strategic plan, stressing that its ultimate aim is to improve the efficiency of the judicial process.
He revealed that The Gambia High Court Rules were enacted sometime in 1928 which, he said, served the courts well, adding that there is constant need for change to meet the current challenges.
CJ Jallow, however, stated that there are still aspects of the high court rules that are relevant and need not be repealed, stating that these rules are necessary to leverage the use of technology in court proceedings through remote hearings,which provides rules for specialised courts like commercial courts. This, according to CJ Jallow, was aimed at avoidingundue technicality and responding to the growing demand for speedy trial. He added that such will also create more room for out-of- court settlement.
”Following the conclusion of the validation, the Rules Committee will adopt the Rules and ensure the smooth transition of the efficient application of the new rules. Before its implementation, it is important to organise stakeholders’workshops targeting the various users such as judges, lawyers and court staff to familiarize them with the use of the new rules, ” the chief judge said.
In her presentation on the draft rules of The Gambia High Court, senior lawyer Amie Bensouda of AB & Co. law firm said that they were contracted to review and revise the rules of the high court, ”taking into account case law, practice directions, other legislation connected to court Act”.
She revealed that the review of the high court rules was a reform measure identified by The Gambia Judiciary for 2021 to 2025, stating that one of the objectives of revising the high court rules or procedures was purposely to remove undue technicalities and bottlenecks.
”The scope of the consultancy was to conduct comparative analysis of rules of courts at least four common law jurisdictions identified in the inception report and agree with the rules of the committee,” lawyer Bensouda explained.
She further stated that AB & Co. law firm was also tasked to prepare gap analysis reports on existing rules by carrying out consultation on the gap analysis that were identified by court users and experts.
Lawyer Bensouda stated that several meetings with consultants and law experts were held in the drafting process of The Gambia High court rules , adding that Ghana, Nigeria , Singapore, Botswana ,Namibia,Kenya, Jamaica ,Wales and England were identified, regarding case management.
She said that the first draft rules of the high court wassubmitted sometime in January this year, adding that it was later reviewed by a committee in February 2024.
”These draft rules are intended to replace the rules of the highcourt 1928 as amended to date,” consultant Bensouda said.
She went further to state that the recent high court rules, when adopted, will give the judges more control over litigation, stating that the new approach has taken hold and many common law jurisdictions have adopted the same or similar approaches since.
”The rules that we intend to consider are to guide the judges of the court, the parties and their counsel for a just conclusion in every case,” Bensouda added.
Meanwhile, judges from Morocco and The Gambia SupremeCourt and Court of Appeal, magistrates, lawyers and police prosecutors are among the participants in the high court rules validation.