Georgetown: President Donald Ramotar recently commissioned a new state-of-the-art building which will house the Number 51 Magistrate’s Court.
The $48 million facility is fully air-conditioned and is also equipped with an internal Police outpost and has a briefing area for prosecutors. In declaring open the new court house, President Ramotar noted that a functioning and efficient judiciary is important to economic development. Investors are more likely to invest in a country where they are assured that the judicial system can guarantee them good results and justice accordance with the law.
Over the past five years, he noted, Government has upgraded all the Magistrate’s Courts in the country and soon the new court house at Lethem will be commissioned. Before the end of the year, the Magistrate’s Court at Pleasance will also be upgraded, the President said, while noting that the complement of High Court Judges has been increased from 12 to 20.
New court houses in rural communities have been equipped with living quarters so that Magistrates can spend longer periods attending to cases in those communities. “We will continue to provide resources to our people to ensure that our people have access to the justice system.” The Head of State added that the justice system in Guyana must be equally for both the poor and the rich. “People with money must not have more access to justice that the poor. The court must be a major defender of the poor. This Government will continue to ensure that our judiciary remains independent… You will never see the PPP (People’s Progressive Party) flag flying at any court building.” Ramotar added that his Administration will continue to encourage the judiciary to embark on new initiatives that will foster greater speed in the system in order to minimise the delay which results in a back log of cases.”
However the President said that he was not pleased with the slothfulness of some matters in the court. “Some matters are pending for years, this is unacceptable. For years some have been locked away. We must be careful in our democratic society to try to avoid violating the human rights of anyone in our society.” The President also commented on the granting of bail by Magistrates. “More particularly to repeat offenders are readily released on bail by Magistrates. When these people are released on bail they threaten witnesses who do not turn up to give evidence and the cases are dismissed.” He said in those instances victims claimed that they are denied justice. “More importantly these persons continue to commit similar and even more serious offences even while on bail. While I recognise I cannot interfere with how bail is granted, I feel compelled to draw these matters to the attention to the judiciary.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said Government views the justice sector as an integral factor in the developmental equation of our country. Wherever people are afforded that fundamental facility of freedom and where the justice system is functioning, there is economical progress, there is social progress and indeed the entire society prospers. He said over the years Government has invested billions of dollars into the justice sector to ensure that all have access to the justice system. “More particularly the disadvantaged, the working people and the poorer class of people I society.”
Nandlall noted that the more vulnerably are the ones who have a greater need to have access to the justice system. In the justice system the Attorney General said there has been a transformation but it is a work in progress. “We are not unaware of the challenges, we are not unaware of the changes that have to be made but we also have financial constraint under which the executive operates.”
Nandlall assured that the judiciary independence will continue as the constitution enshrines it. Making reference to a period in Guyana’s history when the flag of the political party in Government was flown on top of the Court of Appeal building in the country and the aped of the judiciary, Nandlall said it signalled to the world that the judiciary is subservient to that political party. “That will never happen under this Government. This Government respects the independence of the judiciary and indeed uses it as a fundamental corner stone of our democracy.”
According to Nandlall, very soon the Family Court will come into being while the Deeds and Land Registry will see improvements. Meanwhile Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh, who used the old Magistrate building in the mid 1980’s to do land registration, recounted the conditions under which he was forced to work even back then. “I had to sit in a one arm chair and sat at a 45 degree tilt. There were few panels left in the ceiling and those that were left were partially intact with clouds of some kind of dust. I seemed to me like rat and bat dung that came down on those who sat on the bench.” The Chancellor noted that former Magistrate Krishendat Persaud operated under those conditions with out complaining.
The contractor for the new court was executed by R Kissoon Construction Services with E&A Consultants Inc being the engineer.
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