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Supreme Court hit with staff shortage, 100 resigned last year – Chancellor
(Kaieteur News) – Acting chancellor of the judiciary, Justice Roxane George said Tuesday that the supreme court has lost some 100 staff members over the last year.
Addressing the opening of law year 2026 on Tuesday, the chancellor said the court lost its mainly to the private sector, government ministries, public sector agencies and immigration.
“The loss of staff is severely affecting court operations. There is grave difficulty in attracting and retaining staff to ensure that our courts function efficiently at all times. This very major challenge has to be addressed soonest even as we await proposed medium-to long-term solutions.”
Supreme Court
To this end, the chancellor said a comprehensive administrative human resources audit is being conducted through a grant from Global Affairs Canada.
“We are very appreciative of this assistance. This audit will address functional needs regarding staffing, qualifications and compensation. It is anticipated that this will lead to a revised organisational structure, job classification, and remuneration framework,” she said.
However, despite the high staff turnover, the chancellor noted the court has been able to cover a significant quota of work.
She said the high court no longer has a backlog of civil cases in the registry, more so with the implementation of the Civil Procedure Rules 2016.
Justice George explained that “these rules continue to be under in-depth review.
With the introduction of the e-litigation portal for the high court in October 2024, most cases are automatically assigned to judges through the portal. This paperless system, allows for greater efficiency in the assignment of cases, eliminates dependence on the movement of case files and permits access to files 24 hours a day.”
“Judges, for the most part, are managing their dockets, though it is recognised that the volume of cases remains high. Some 5,847 civil cases were filed nationwide in 2025 for hearing by the judges assigned to the civil jurisdiction which would be four or five judges in Demerara, and one each in Berbice and Essequibo, with the Essequibo judge assigned to hear both civil and criminal cases.”
According to her, it may become necessary to assign an additional judge to hear civil cases in Berbice.
“Civil cases include constitutional and administrative law cases, commercial cases, as well as family law cases, adoptions and grants of representation for estates of deceased persons.I urge lawyers to advise their clients to embrace alternative dispute resolution so as to resolve matters without engaging the court system. Court connected mediation, after cases are filed, is working but needs to be buttressed to be more effective.”
Further, the chancellor said the criminal case load in the Demerara High Court has been reduced significantly because four or five judges are assigned to hear these cases. However, Berbice and Essequibo will most likely need additional judges as has been done in Demerara to better manage the criminal case docket.
The judge explained that investigations which produce strong evidence will encourage accused to enter into plea bargaining. Therefore, enhancing the investigative capacity of law enforcement agencies is critical to the more efficient administration of the criminal justice system.
Meanwhile, she noted that the Court of Appeal has a backlog of about 2,000 cases due to the lack of judges to hear cases for several years.
However, with the appointment of additional justices of appeal in 2025, Justice George said a robust case management system will be implemented for a structured approach to reducing the backlog while addressing current appeals and applications. “Since the introduction of the e-litigation portal in January 2024, 607 appeals and applications have been filed, with 298 such matters being filed in 2025.
Cases are automatically assigned to two judges through the e-litigation portal. Another 181 appeals were filed to the Full Court in 2025. “Our experience is that these appeals are heard and completed within six to eight months of filing.,” she explained.
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