Georgetown: Former Chancellor of the Judiciary, retired Justice Cecil Kennard said the appointment of too many young magistrates and judges to the bench can be blamed for the current backlog of cases and slothfulness of the justice system
Kennard said bluntly: “We are appointing members of the judicial system when they lack the necessary experience,” pointing out that some of the magistrates and judges are somewhat tardy in their work.
According to Kennard, some magistrates are intimidated by the possibility of an appeal of their decision, and as such, take long to make a decision.
This, he said is creating a major accumulation of cases in the judicial system.
This comment by the former chancellor of the judiciary comes mere days after legislation was passed in court to allow for the proceedings to be recorded using electrical recorders.
This bill paves the way for the electronic verbatim recording of proceedings, moving away from a conventional system of manual note taking, which is time consuming.
Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh had previously expressed similar sentiments regarding the work of senior judicial officers.
Justice Singh in October said more judges were urgently required. If the judges needed were hired, then they would be able to deal with the increasing backlog of cases and the sluggishness linked with the dispensation of justice in Guyana.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall had said the executive had recognised the need for more appointments to be made to assist in improving the delivery of justice.
Singh is of the opinion that with the appointment of more judges, the backlog could be further addressed and possibly eradicated, giving rise to the rebirth of an effective judicial system.
He added that even as consideration is given to the appointment of more judges, stricter measures and action will have to be taken to get them to perform with some level of efficiency.
Nandlall said while government endorses the view that more judges need to be appointed to assist in fast-tracking the delivery of justice, there are other factors that must be considered, which will not allow for an immediate interven
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