Some suggestions for a modified judiciary

Sep 22, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
Several eminent jurists have commented negatively on the failure to appoint holders to the substantive positions of Chancellor and Chief Justice. All Guyanese should be equally concerned about this impasse.
It is fitting to note that the Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary in our sister Caribbean countries. There are no positions of Chancellor. Those of us old enough will be aware that the circumstances surrounding the creation of the position of Chancellor were more of a political expediency rather than based on the needs of the judiciary.
In view of the fact that His Excellency the President and The Honourable Leader of the Opposition cannot agree on the substantive appointments to these two positions, there may be more common ground to eliminate the position of Chancellor and revert to the Chief Justice as Head of the Judiciary. This should enable the substantive appointment of the Chief Justice by the Judicial Service Commission as was past practice.
Editor, please allow me to make another point about our adjudication system. Over the years, several areas of constitutional amendments/reforms have been proposed and or discussed. One area that should definitely come under scrutiny in justice reform is our present four layers of adjudication namely the Magistracy, The High Court, The Court of Appeals, and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
I beg the question, do these four layers truly result in justice or do they contribute more to the inordinate delays in the resolution of cases?
My suggestion is to reduce the layers of adjudication to three. The CCJ and the Court of Appeals (names can change) will be retained. The Magistracy and the High Court must be reformed. I can cite Israel as a country that has three levels of adjudication namely The Magistracy, The District Court and The Supreme Court.
To my mind, this will still guarantee fairness in the justice system and will serve to reduce the length of time it takes to resolve cases, some of which are in the system for a very long time. The legal maxim, justice delayed is justice denied, should be our motto. The standard for resolution of a case should be no more than two years.
Yours faithfully,
Abraham David

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