The Judiciary of Sierra Leone under the leadership of Chief Justice (CJ) Desmond Babatunde Edwards is currently undergoing a massive transformation. Justice Edwards came to the helm of the judiciary when he was appointed CJ in 2018 by President Bio, after which he has effected many changes in the sector.
The Chief Justice said “under my leadership, the Judiciary is set for a number of changes and has gone through a series of changes. Since I took up office I do recall that one of my first changes was to use Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) No. 4 of 2019 to divide the High Court into eight divisions. Hitherto, there were only five divisions and while these five divisions existed, they were only in name with no special assignment of judges to those divisions.”
He made this revelation during the Sierra Leone Bar Association congress in Kenema.
“However, pursuant to the High Court Divisions Order, C.I. No. 4 of 2019, three completely new divisions were created with the Property Division and the Admiralty and Commercial Division transformed to a Lands, Property & Environment Division and the Fast Track Commercial Court Division respectively. The three completely new divisions were: Industrial and Social Security Division; the Anti-Corruption Division; and the Sexual Offences Division.” In addition, he said there were “no Registrar Supreme Court, no Registrar Court of Appeal, no Court Operations Manager, no Human Resource Manager, no Procurement and Logistics Manager and no Chartered Certified Accountant,” all of which made administering the Judiciary very daunting.
“My administration had to separate court operations from judicial professional support and appoint key officers most of whom had not only graduate but postgraduate qualifications: Court Operations Manager, Human Resource Manager, Procurement & Logistics Manager, Registrar, Supreme Court and Master & Registrar.”
Justice Edwards said since he took office no less than three Criminal Sessions of the High Court were successfully organised and conducted, all under the auspices of the Judiciary under its budgetary allocation from the Government of Sierra Leone.
He said Criminal Sessions are appointed and held in areas where there are no sitting judges, and from 1965 to 2019 were held only in Port Loko, Sefadu and Moyamba.
“Under my leadership such sessions have been more frequent than over the years. Sefadu-Kono is now a resident area where the courts sit as the same times as in Freetown, Bo, Makeni and Kenema.”
Highlighting other developments, the Chief Justice recalled the many developments that have taken place including the repeal and replacement of the Fast Track Commercial Court Rules by the 2020 Fast Tract Commercial Court Rules, the use of Virtual Courts and more.
“We are in the final stages of putting into effect the Small Claims Commercial Court Rules replacing the Magistrate Court Rules PN No. 41 of 1966 and amending portions of the court Act 1965 which restricted civil commercial practice to just Le5 million.”
Currently, a massive renovation work is ongoing within and outside the compound of the judiciary aimed at making it comfortable for judges, magistrate, lawyers, judiciary staff, litigants and all.
By Mohamed J. Bah