By Mama A. Touray
The judiciary has registered over eleven thousand cases for the past year ranging from the subordinate to the superior courts due to the commitment of the judicial staff.
The Chief Justice of the Gambia, Hassan B. Jallow made the revelation yesterday during the 2023 legal year observed at the law complex in Banjul presided over by President Adama Barrow, senior government officials, and a cross-section of the society.
The Chief Justice said as part of its core activity to adjudicate disputes, the judiciary has heard and determined a total of 11,568 cases fairly and expeditiously without delay in the year 2022 from the subordinate to the superior courts.
Addressing the gathering the Gambia’s chief justice said: “In 2022 the courts were able to dispose of a total of 6,800 cases representing 58% of the workload and an increase of 1,978 on the total of 4822 cases disposed of in 2021.”
Chief Justice Jallow also commended the staff of the judiciary for their commendable achievement under challenging conditions, as well as members of the Bar and indeed litigants and witnesses who have contributed to this achievement.
For his part, the President of the Gambia Bar Association, Salieu Taal highlighted some of the challenges in the judiciary in terms of expeditious judicial hearing of cases within short period particularly non-bail-able offences which cause a backlog of cases in the judiciary system.
“The private bar, Ministry of Justice, the police, and the Bench all have a collective responsibility to do more in this regard to help expedite delivery of justice effectively and efficiently. The continued investment in human and physical infrastructure will greatly improve the delivery of justice. To this end, we welcome the Judiciary’s expansion of the courts and recruitment drive. We also call for the allocation of more resources to support the judiciary from the State and development partners” Taal appealed.
