–with passage of Court of Appeal Bill in the National Assembly

TO address the backlog of cases, the government successfully amended the Court of Appeal Bill 2022 to increase the number of judges sitting in the Court of Appeal to at least nine.

This was according to Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, S.C., who said the law provides for no less than two and no more than five judges for Guyana’s Court of Appeal.

The bill was read for the third time and passed during Monday’s sitting of the National Assembly.

Clause two of the bill amends Section 34(1) to provide that the complement of Court of Appeal judges include not less than five and not more than nine Justices of Appeal.

“Mr Speaker, it is no secret that Guyana has always been a litigious society. In my view, the propensity to litigate in Guyana has grown progressively over the years. It is quite possible that litigation has increased several 100 fold from 1970 to now.

“The latest statistics from the Caribbean Court of Justice revealed that nearly 60 per cent of the appeals ordered by that court are from Guyana, 60 per cent. This means that Guyana as a singular jurisdiction, sent more appeals to the CCJ than all the other territories combined.”

Nandlall said too: “Indeed appeals from Guyana triple those of the other individual territories. It is, therefore, both unreasonable and impossible to expect the same number of judges to cope efficiently in the face of such an increase in workload. This amendment is, therefore, long overdue and should attract no opposition from any rational-thinking person.”

He added that the backlog of cases that has afflicted our judicial system and the consequential injustice in which cases are heard has long ailed the judiciary.

Among other things, Nandlall said that the government has been a willing and reliable partner in supporting the judiciary in every initiative designed to improve the justice system and bring to its processes greater dispatch.

Some of these initiatives included audio-video recording systems, which allowed for automatic recording of proceedings in court with a written transcript being produced, obviating the need for judges and magistrates to take notes in longhand.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in a unique collaboration between the executive and the judiciary, virtual courts were established at the three major prison centres.

These courts permit prisoners to have their cases virtually heard by magistrates and judges from the various prison locations by internet linkups, television screens, and much more.

“To complement the aforementioned physical and systemic transformation, we are now increasing the complement of justices of appeal in the manner set out in the bill. No doubt this apparent, small measure will positively affect the overall administration of justice in Guyana,” he said.

The government did not act unilaterally on this initiative and had consultation between the judiciary and the legal profession.

“While the executive cannot dictate how the judiciary conducts its business, it would be reasonable for the public to expect that once more judges are appointed, there will be greater alacrity in the hearing and determination of cases,” he said.

The Attorney General stressed that not only will there be a greater frequency of sittings of the Court of Appeal at its Georgetown abode, but soon in Essequibo and Berbice as well.

In support of the bill, Opposition parliamentarian Khemraj Ramjattan, who is also an attorney, said that the bill is important, especially to keep the government in check.

He added that the old laws had created a “bottleneck” in the system, which the amended laws will fix.

“It is important in the context of the development of the country and its evolution, that we see that this happens as early as possible,” Ramjattan said.