THE coordination of the legal system is a must if the backlog of cases in the judiciary is to be addressed adequately. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams last Thursday during a press conference disclosed that a coordinating committee has been set up to address the problems affecting the judiciary.
“What happens at one end affects what happens at the other, so we cannot resolve the prison (overcrowding) issue unless we deal with the Police Superintendent… he deploys prosecutors… if they’re not properly supervised, they can be responsible for a lot of backlog,” Minister Williams explained.
The backlog of criminal cases has been a major cause for concern over the past two decades, and as such, legislation was enacted to introduce committal proceedings to fast-track preliminary inquiries.
“When the paper committals were introduced, magistrates started applying them, but it was recognised that you were basically transferring the problem from the Magistrate’s Court to the High Court,” said the Minister of Legal Affairs.
With the implementation of paper committal proceedings, prosecutors are required to provide evidence against the accused to the accused attorney. After examination of the evidence, if it was determined that a prima facie case exists, then the parties once agreed would commit to having the accused stand trial in the High Court. This was done in the interest of not wasting the court’s time.
“It meant that trials kept climbing and the figures kept increasing rapidly… a judge would take about three to four trials per session, which takes three months… so we still have that problem right now and it has to be addressed,” stated the Minister.
In light of the foregoing, the Minister of Legal Affairs said Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Carl Singh is mandated to address the issue of backlog of cases.
That aside, the Ministry of Legal Affairs has budgeted some US$49,020 to employ six part-time judges for six months.
“That exercise will be funded by the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank)… that is still in the pipeline… IDB visited me on Monday, and I will meet with them again today (May 19). Once they approve the sums, we will start incurring expenses,” Minister Williams told reporters.
An additional US$327,000 has been budgeted to install voice verbatim recordings in the High Court and in those Magistrate’s Courts that deal with serious criminal matters.
“That will certainly speed up trials because we have an old system where judges and magistrates take evidence by writing in their own hand… these things once implemented will certainly improve the quality of the delivery of speedy justice in Guyana.”
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is assisting Guyana with the implementation of the New Justice Sector Programme, which is designed to consolidate justice sector improvements. The programme will see the establishment of a Law Revision Office and a revision of Guyana’s laws.
Additionally, Guyana’s laws are to be continuously examined by a Permanent Law Reform Commission secretariat. That secretariat is to make recommendations on areas of reform. (GINA)