Justice should be swift and possible for all
- says President at re-commissioning of Leonora Magistrate’s Court
- urges magistrates to record 8-hr day’s work
PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has called on magistrates to serve the nation by putting in eight hours of work each day they sit on the bench. He said the magistrates now have a comfortable environment to enable their hearing more cases per day.Delivering the feature address at the re-commissioning ceremony of the Leonora Magistrate’s Court in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) yesterday afternoon, President Ramotar reminded that justice
The re-commissioned Leonora Magistrates Court. (Sonell Nelson photo)
should be swift and possible for everyone. He said the Government of Guyana has been putting in place conditions to make the judiciary more effective and comfortable for those who have to serve in it; and that while the court has its job to do, his personal view is that certain persons take certain matters to the courts in an effort to stall and slow up capital intensive projects, and sometimes have those projects halted altogether by litigation.
President Ramotar points in the direction of Magistrate Clive Nurse in making a point yesterday while touring the newly re-commissioned facility
The President said the Government of Guyana sees access to the courts of Guyana by all Guyanese as fundamental and lawful, and any matter taken there should end with justice being served.
President Ramotar said the re-commissioning also speaks to the move by Government to increase the magistracy; and just as material things are vital for persons, so too is the availability of judicial services.
He pointed out that the increased presence of courts in various districts will help the ordinary man to save money and time, in that he would not have to travel for miles and across many villages to get access to a court.
Taking a swipe at the rich and those who have the means to do business with the courts, the President said that while the court is important to everyone in society, it is the rich
The President inspects the magistrate’s chambers at the Leonora Court
and those with the means who tend to have an advantage, as against the ordinary people. That fact, he said, forces some people not to want to turn up for court hearings.
He pointed out that the state has been investing millions in the Legal Aid Service because many persons are disadvantaged by their economic position and their inability to pay lawyers or legal minds to represent their cause in a court of law.
Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry
The importance of the court and a proper and effective judicial system was also underscored against the backdrop of the development and investment in one’s country. The President told the gathering that investors feel safe to invest in a country or society only when they are assured that protection of their investments and interests can be accommodated in the laws of the land.
President Ramotar said the Government of Guyana has done its part, and it’s now time for the judicial commission to ensure enforcement, while at the same time looking into the issue of a more timely dispensation of justice and the writing up of cases by judges and magistrates, since slothfulness could cause all sorts of spinoffs.
Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry acknowledged that re-commissioning of the court was
President Donald Ramotar addressing the gathering yesterday
indeed an investment by the Government in the judicial system, and she deemed it essential.
She added that an independent and effective justice system not only supports human rights’ expectations, but lot of other rights which persons are entitled to.
Also present at the event were Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, and Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber.
(By Leroy Smith)
Taken from the Guyana Chronicle