Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Gambia
By Landing Ceesay
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Gambia Hassan B. Jallow at the opening of the Legal Year 2022 said courts across the country registered over eight thousand legal cases in 2021.
“Since last year the courts have been operating at full normal levels following a brief resort to a shift system with limits on the number of cases scheduled daily due to the covid-19 pandemic. The workload continues to be heavy, with new cases constantly being filed. In 2021, a total of 8, 882 new cases were registered across all the courts. During the same period the courts were able to dispose of 4,822 cases,” the Supreme Court Judge said.
He said their objectives are to strengthen the independence and autonomy of the judiciary; upgrading and expanding its infrastructure; improving the efficiency of court processes and human resources; harnessing technology to that effect and improving access to justice have been and will continue to be the guiding principles for the development of the judiciary and machinery of justice.
“A very commendable effort by the Judges, Magistrates, Cadis and panel members, members of staff as well as the Bar and other participants in the process. But an indicator too that much more needs to be done by way of strengthening the judiciary with additional court rooms, human resources and other facilities and by encouraging other alternative ways of resolving disputes to supplement the judicial process.
“In order to decongest the prisons and accelerate the hearing of criminal cases the judiciary also devoted the months of July and August 2021 exclusively to the hearing and determination of criminal cases, particularly of those in remand custody. This exercise which was initiated in 2019 will continue with another session to be scheduled this year after Easter vacation of the courts,” he said.
The Annex Court Judge Jallow, said they are very conscious that there is room for further improvement of their good record in case management by the courts in order to reduce, if not eliminate avoidable delays and dispose of cases more expeditiously.
The opening of the Legal Year 2022 began on 6th February and will run up to Friday 11th of February 2022 with a series of activities.