South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The National Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ruben Madol Arol on Saturday called for more funding to the judiciary in order to reduce on the case backlog.
“The cooperation and collaboration in dealing with backlog of cases between the police, prosecutors and judges is there, but all that needs to be done is to put more commitment, efforts and resources,” said Madol during the consultative meeting with members of the Judicial Reform Committee held at Pyramid Hotel in Juba.
He disclosed that years of underfunding of the judiciary has hampered it’s effectiveness in providing speedy justice to the public on time, adding that the establishment of mobile courts also requires finances to facilitate judges, prosecutors and police to go to places where they are required.
Madol revealed that the police, prosecutors and the judges have a shared responsibility to dispense speedy justice.
‘We want to come up with plan to address case backlog, it is possible for the same Judicial Service Commission to come up with a plan on how to approach case backlog and get resources for judges to do what is required,” he said.
James Ogoola, the Chairperson for the Judicial Reform Committee said that the committee will finalize its report within the next two weeks, adding that they are working to establish a judiciary with properly established system.
“We want in South Sudan in the near future, medium and for long term, the judiciary that is efficient, effective, competent, one that delivers access to justice for its court users,” said Ogoola.
“We want a judiciary which delivers its work without fear from anybody or favor to anybody, which has appropriate tools for its job, a judiciary that will be equal to the challenges of post-conflict South Sudan,” he added.
