By Francis H. Murray
The judiciary of Sierra Leone has presented a proposed budget of Le22, 053,000,000 to the Ministry of Finance for the running of the justice sector in the 2021 financial year.
Chief Justice Babatunde Edwards made this disclosure during the ongoing budget planning process at the Ministry of Finance in Freetown.
Justice Edwards said their key deliverables for 2021 are increasing access to justice in districts such as Tonkolili, Falaba, Karene, Koinadugu, Pujehun, Kailahun, Western Rural-York, Moyamba, Port Loko, and Mattru Jong.
He explained that the key to the budget’s implementation is to enhance capacity building for judges, magistrates, administrative staff and infrastructural development and improvement.
According to Edward’s presentation, he intends to allocate to the various branches of the judiciary as follows: Supreme Court Le 2,612,100,000.00, The Court of appeal Le 541,000,000.00, The High Court/Magistrate courts 5,346,900,000.00, Judiciary administration and Support Services Le 10,570,000,000.00 and Training and overseas traveling Le 2,983,000,000.00.
The Chief Justice further disclosed that the budget, if approved, will finance the building of five Magistrate Courts in Falaba, Bo, Karene, Port Loko, and York and two High Courts in Port Loko and York, as well as the rehabilitation of other courts.
He said the judiciary will enhance social security by 20 percent through the social security court, install an effective and efficient case management system and increase the court’s visibility worldwide for both fast-track Commercial Courts and General Courts, through the establishment of a website.
In 2020, Le 16,967,132,600.00 was approved for the judiciary, and according to the Chief Justice, that was the highest budgetary allocation to the judiciary ever.
Justice Edwards further noted that with that budgetary allocation they were able to meet most of their key deliverables like organizing training for at least 35% of the judiciary personnel, improving upon court records management, and expediting judgment to reduce the number of pending cases by 70%.
He said the 2020 budget also enhanced court visibility in regions such as Tonkolili, Falaba, Karene, Koinadugu, Pujehun, Sebwema and York, and helped set up courts to enhance tax enforcement, starting with social security courts.
Non-State Actors present during the discussion called for more outreach by the judiciary, given that the judiciary has only one Public Relations Officer presently. They also called on the judiciary to improve on their archive system, noting that there are instances when case files went missing, and they also shared the concern of Magistrate Courts not sitting regularly.
The Director of National Budget, Tasima Jah, reminded the Chief Justice that the government will be slashing on recurrent spending in the 2021 financial year and focus on capital projects.
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