Chief justice names major court reform gains |16 September 2010

During his address to reopen the Supreme Court, he gave the examples of capital which is unlocked when civil cases end, the trauma that victims of assault or divorce no longer have to bear, and the heavy sums in interest that those sued no longer have to pay.

“If someone supplies goods and there is a dispute before he is paid, forcing him to wait for so long before his case is settled, then his money is held up and he cannot reinvest it,” he said.

Last year President James Michel announced he was appointing Mr Egonda-Ntende as the new chief justice to improve the judiciary, saying court reform is an important element in the new economic course Seychelles is adopting.

“To continue with the same approach in the prevailing circumstances is out of the question,” Mr Michel said in his National Day address last year.

“Our economy is moving rapidly. Our country is moving rapidly. We need a judiciary that moves rapidly.

“When the new chief justice takes up his appointment we need to seize the opportunity to give a new lease of life to our judicial system. I know we can do it.”

In his February state-of-the-nation address this year, Mr Michel said the justice system had to heed the calls of the citizens.

“Our people are after a justice system that is faster, more efficient and harsher in sentencing,” he said.

Yesterday, Mr Egonda-Ntende said the courts previously had many cases pending, some of which were up to 10 years old and the list was growing.

Giving statistics and names of the accused, he showed that the courts are now dealing with all new cases within a set “reasonable time” and finishing many of the old cases.

“The year 2008 opened with a load of 129 pending cases and 2009 with 238 pending cases. 2010 opened with 181, reflecting the increased productivity of the court with respect to criminal cases,” he said.

“In 2009, 112 criminal cases were retired compared with 27 in 2008, 28 in 2007 and 22 in 2006. The criminal case load now stands at 168, 25% fewer than at the same time last year.

“The growth of total case load and the backlog has been stopped. With the measures and guidelines we are putting in place, I am confident that the criminal caseload of the court will – all factors remaining equal – be sufficiently reduced in the next 12 months, and leave no doubt that this court will be in full compliance with the constitutional standards.”

Mr Egonda-Ntende said new time limits for completing cases will be proposed, details of  which Nation aims to publish in tomorrow’s issue.

Ending the old cases, in which many accused are being acquitted, does not mean criminals will be released from remand prison into society, he added, “because most of them are already out on bail since you cannot keep them for 10 years when the maximum sentence they would have got is only five years, for example”.

He said the courts’ efficiency in settling civil cases in 2009 was double that of 2008.

“In 2009 a total of 195 cases were completed, compared to 93 in 2008. In the first seven months of this year 261 cases were completed. This year’s performance is therefore better than those of the last three years in a row, even though the year is not yet over.

“The year opened with 1,235 civil cases, and as at July 31, 2010, 1,209 civil cases were pending. The clearance rate for this year up to July 31 is 111% while it was 54% in 2009.

“There is, therefore, increased productivity in the Supreme Court,” he said, but added that despite the positive outlook, there are pending cases dating back to 2000.

“This span is unacceptable. There can be no sufficient justification in a system having cases that are five to 10 years old as a matter of course, rather than as an exception,” said Mr Egonda-Ntende.

He said the courts have been able to speed up their work partly because they have bought digital recorders to replace older models.

“At the same time we hired new court reporters and bought them computers to speed up the transcription of records of proceedings,” he added.

The computers were funded through a United Nations Development Programme project.

The chief justice said recordings are being transcribed within five days for judges and others, and “old records on magnetic tapes as well as stenographic or longhand notes are also being progressively transcribed so as to remove the backlog”.

Referring to statistics he gave, Mr Egonda-Ntende showed that the accused in many of the old cases were acquitted or had their cases withdrawn because witnesses or the aggrieved lost interest, some died or migrated, and others forgot details.
The court reopening started with a service at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Victoria.

Judges, magistrates, lawyers and court staff then walked in a procession led by the National Brass Band along Olivier Maradan and Albert streets, past the Clock Tower and into the court’s car park via Independence Avenue.

Mr Egonda-Ntende then inspected a guard of honour mounted by the Seychelles Police.