Kirby fears for a failing justice system

President of Court of Appeal, Ian Kirby has urged government to urgently resource the Administration of Justice (AoJ) to assist the department execute its duties efficiently.

Kirby said staff levels should be made adequate in the subordinate courts, in the High Court and also in the Appeals Court. “If this is not done soon, there is a danger that all the benefits of judicial case management in which Botswana is a leader in the region, will be lost”, Kirby said on Friday at the start of the Court of Appeal January session.

He said concluding criminal matters remains problematic because there are bottlenecks in the process, particularly in the time taken to transcribe records of proceedings due to shortage of staff. Judicial case management has been successfully rolled out to subordinate courts, but there has been no corresponding increase in the court reporting staff, Kirby stated.

“Junior court reporters are expected to be in court virtually every day, and have no time, except after hours to transcribe the records of completed trials from their shorthand notes. I have no doubt that a serious backlog of pending criminal appeals is rapidly being built up, and this is demonstrated by the low number of criminal appeals reaching this court while the appellants languish in jail, sometimes until their sentences are served.”

The court president also expressed concern about laxity in the legal fraternity regarding the timeous filling of court papers. He urged lawyers to assist their clients and the court to prepare their court papers well in time in terms of the rules of the court.

Kirby said that, “these remarks are particularly apposite for the present session where 54 appeals, many of them complex and with lengthy records, have been listed for hearing. Well researched heads of argument do help to lessen the pressure on the Justices of Appeals Court as we strive to maintain the court’s tradition of delivering our judgements during the session in which appeals are heard”.