Complete revamp of Judiciary needed - AG Williams

Complete revamp of Judiciary needed – AG Williams

May 23, 2016 News

– committee to be set up

The Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Basil Williams has indicated that the entire judiciary system needs to be revamped before the issue of backlog cases can be tackled most aggressively.
In this regard, Williams said that he is looking at establishing a coordinating committee made up of representatives of the justice system, who will meet regularly and try to tackle problems in every area of the judiciary system thereby constituting an holistic approach to addressing case backlog.
This was conveyed at a recent press conference hosted by the Attorney General at his Carmichael Street Office.
“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 (Court) Superintendent…he deploys Prosecutors…if they’re not properly supervised they can be responsible for a lot of backlog,” said Williams.
The backlog of cases in the criminal realm has been an issue plaguing the judiciary for decades.
To address this issue, legislation was enacted introducing committal proceedings to fast track Preliminary Inquiries. At the Magistrate’s Court, an accused had to wait four to five years for his trial to be completed, then a similar period before a Judge and Jury in the High Court, all the while languishing in prison.

Attorney General Basil Wiliams

“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,” Minister Williams explained.
The paper committal proceedings saw the Prosecutor handing over the evidence against the accused to his Attorney. If after examination it was determined that a prima facie case existed, in the interest of not wasting the court’s time, parties then consented to committing the accused to stand trial in the High Court.
“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,” Minister Williams explained.
He added that the Chancellor of the Judiciary (Ag) Carl Singh must address this issue as the administration, upon assuming office, enacted legislation for the independence of the judiciary.
Nevertheless, the Ministry has allocated a budgetary estimate of US$49,020 to employ six part-time Judges for a six-month duration.
“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 explained.
Additionally, US$327,000 is 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 Attorney General said.
Guyana has partnered with the IDB to implement 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, updating them to 2015.
Additionally, a Permanent Law Reform Commission with a Secretariat will focus on continuously examining Guyana’s laws and making recommendations on areas of reform.
Judges, Magistrates and Prosecutors will also be trained in sentencing and the writing of decisions as part of a holistic approach to ensure efficiency within the judicial sector.

2 thoughts on “Complete revamp of Judiciary needed – AG Williams”

Iggi May 23, 2016 at 8:32 am

50K to employ “six” judges and a third of a million to install a voice recording system! No wonder the system is screwed up. With this kind of planning one can expect it will inevitably continue.
Pedro May 23, 2016 at 12:42 pm

This improvement of the Judiciary has been on the back burner for decades.They are at least 2 reports I know off that clearly laid out in detail, how to reduce the backlog, significantly, and to ensure that current cases are adjudicated in real time.In other words -“Justice will be served, not just appear to be served.” Now as to why nothing has been done.
The legal profession as a whole, love the status quo, as the attorneys, make more money, and both the attorneys and the judiciary love the easy pace of litigation in Guyana. Efficiency and progress, means increase in stress to them to perform, and they do not want that.If the legal system was a private corporation, it would have been bankrupt many decades ago, and been replaced by a new efficient, motivated , entity