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Momodou
Denmark
11710 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 14:01:05
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Daily News Editorial: Let Us Allow Justice Be Done and Seen to Be Done!!!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
 Interferences in the justice delivery processes are often taken to be, say, when an adjudicating officer is bribed to make decisions in favour of the briber or threatened by the powers that be or other forces, to make an unjust judgment.
In actual fact, interferences in justice delivery manifest itself in many ways. Interestingly, it is sometimes done without the interferer knowing that he or she is interfering. Some however, do it deliberately.
Judges and magistrates are first and foremost human beings. They are members of the society in which they live. In a country where communal life still exists, they are bound to mingle and socialize with the people.
However, this puts them at a lot of risk. It is primarily against this backdrop that some form of restrictions is put on judges and magistrates from attending certain social events. This means there are limitations put on their ability to exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of movement, association and free speech.
For, aside from movement and association, judges and magistrates, unlike other professionals, are disallowed to discuss with their families, matters that they are handling. In countries where trial by jury exists, the jurors face similar restrictions.
In the same vein, the public is not allowed to publicly discuss matters that are before a court of law and are yet to be judged, for they can equally influence the outcome. Nor is the mass media allowed either to sound out public opinion, comment or publish any information that are, as they put it in legal terms, sub-judicial in nature.
These boundaries are essential and apply to all and sundry. Primarily, they allow adjudicating officers to judge as they deem just and lawful, without any interferences by people who might have vested interests in the outcome of the cases they handle or people who might be mere sympathisers. When that is achieved, to some extent, justice is not only done, but is seen to be done.
Unfortunately, in The Gambia, as we contend with the worrying issue of the job insecurity of judges and magistrates, our Head of State and President of the Republic seems to love to ignore those rules that are essential in safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.
His comments, which have become a norm rather than an exception on cases that are before the court of law, could potentially influence the decisions of the judges and magistrates he appoints and can dismiss, apparently, anytime he wishes, in most cases without any publicly known reason.
Notable among them was in 2009, during the trial of the six journalists charged with sedition and defamation following the publication of a Gambia Press Union authored rejoinder in reaction to his statement on GRTS on the assassinated Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara. Eventually, the journalists were nailed down and sentenced to a two-year jail term, though they were later freed on a presidential pardon.
Also, in 2011, a former acting vice chancellor of the University of The Gambia, in pursuance of her alleged entitlements which include promotion from associate to full professor, resorted to the courts after some failed out-of-courts negotiations. Then came the President’s remark that the court’s decision will not be respected. The fate of that case, at least as far as Daily News can tell, is still in limbo.
The President of the Republic also made inferences on the case of the former police chief, Ensa Badjie and two former top military officers who are standing trial on charges of corruption, drugs and related offences. Also in the ongoing case involving Carnegie minerals versus the state, the President referred to the former as criminals, even before they are judged so, by the court.
The latest came on Friday, during the state opening of the legislative year 2012, when our Head of State suddenly, though not surprisingly, gave asides, condemning homosexuality. While this was actually a re-affirmation of his earlier stance, but the timing was not quite good. For, currently about 20 people are undergoing trial at the magistrates’ court in Kanifing because they are suspected to be homosexuals. In fact, we have seen that, a day after the President’s remark, the Director of Public Prosecution took over the case from the police, who had been prosecuting the case.
Whether directly or indirectly, such comments are seen to be interferences into the process of justice delivery of the country. They should stop in order for the public to rebuild confidence in the country’s justice system.
Laws are made to serve society. They are to be obeyed for the society’s good. That is why those who disobey them meet some kind of punishment – not necessarily imprisonment - to protect and promote that good.
But the law has its interpreters in the same way that it has enactors and assenters. So, when Bills are passed into law and are Assented to, applying them takes a process and must follow those laid down procedures. This is something that should be left entirely to those that have been mandated to do so, the courts.
Source: Daily News
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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