Judiciary Secretary says CJ urgently needed

By Baba Sillah Barely two weeks after the resignation of Nigerian-born Chief Justice, Emmanuel O Fagbenle, the Judiciary Secretary Landing Sanneh has said the lack of a chief justice to administer the affairs of the judiciary is hampering progress. Speaking to The Standard at his office yesterday morning, the Judiciary’s Sanneh postulated that the new government is aware of this and he optimistic that a Chief Justice will be appointed as soon as possible. He added that since the resignation of the former Chief Justice and the lack of judges, the Judiciary has not been functioning effectively as expected despite the fact that staff have resumed work a fortnight ago. Asked to shed light on the contracts of some of the judges who are mainly Nigerians, Sanneh replied: “Some of the judges’ contracts have expired but I don’t know whether they will be renewed. I believe that if the Chief Justice is appointed, I think those issues will be resolved. As you can see the courts are not sitting since we resumed work fortnight ago all because there is no head [CJ] who can look into all that in order to make work easy. Am sure the government is aware of all this and we are expecting the new Chief Justice anytime soon.” However Mr Sanneh added that the Magistrate Courts are functioning throughout the country as ten first class Magistrates have recently been appointed to their various jurisdictions.]]>