Dear Editor,
As I continue to mourn the imminent demise of your esteemed paper, your March 9, 2026 editorial `Public trust and confidence in the judiciary’ is another sharp reminder of what the nation’s loss will be come 15th March. The editorial begins with the Supreme Court of Judicature’s (SCJ) earlier announcement that it had been formally accepted as an Implementing Member of the Inter-national Consortium for Court Excellence (ICCE). The SCJ’s announcement said that accession to this international body represents a significant milestone in the Judiciary’s commitment to strengthening governance, institutional performance, and the delivery of justice.
Though this announcement may very well have come as a surprise to many legal practitioners locally, as well as weary litigants, as one of the latter, I take hope and solace in the Judiciary’s commitment as stated.
My hope is that my matter before the Courts (Precision Woodworking Limited v Republic Bank Limited and Kashir Khan, their appointed receiver) will sooner rather than later receive the attention in accordance with the SCJ’s stated intent. Further, on the words of Chancellor (ag), Justice Roxane George who in a statement welcoming the acceptance said, inter alia, that “the Judiciary plays a critical role in upholding the rule of law, strengthening public trust, and providing the legal certainty necessary to support good governance, investment, and national development.”
While conceding that there is nothing particularly special about our experience before the Courts, surely its lack of progress together with numerous anomalies are clear markers of a dysfunctional system. In this regard, it is important to point out that this case was filed before a specialist court – Commercial Court- one that was established following strenuous lobbying by commercial banks who bemoaned the sloth in litigation initiated by them and the severe negative impacts resulting therefrom. Two notable points:
One: In this action, the bank in question was a defendant, not the plaintiff, and
Two: The specialist court took almost nine years to give a decision in what concerned two straightforward issues, namely, breach of contract, and the unlawful appointment of a receiver.
May I repeat: a specialist court took almost nine years to give a decision on the most basic of issues.
A principal factor that caused the unreasonable time for its decision is the fact that the receiver took more than four years to file a witness statement after being ordered by the Court. That in the circumstances a preclusion order was not made against the Defendant for his continuous refusal to comply with the said Court orders is most surprising.
What is worse than the foregoing though, is that the decision is challenged based on it being illegal for having flouted a Full Court order. In a motion to the Court of Appeal, we aver that “the premise of the final decision is erroneous and of itself illegal.”
Following filing of an appeal to the High Court’s decision we filed a motion with the Court of Appeal seeking an expedited hearing. Though more than four years have elapsed since filing of said motion, a hearing date is yet to be fixed. This is despite the significant fact that the motion is uncontested!
A comparison with a similar previous motion is instructive. It is the one made by Inderjali, mother of Marcus Bisram seeking an order directing that an appeal against the decision of Justice Navindra Singh made on 24 November 2017 be heard urgently. This motion was filed on 6 February 2018 and hearings conducted, and a decision delivered on 31 July 2018, i.e. in less than six months!
A contested motion in 2018 was dispatched within six months while ours filed in 2022 is uncontested yet cannot receive a fixture more than four years after! If the Judiciary is truly serious about earning public trust and confidence it needs to deliver across all areas of performance and justify the ICCE’s accolade as well as its own commitment to achieving excellence.
Editor, I thank you and Stabroek News for its nearly four decades of service to the nation as a beacon of a free and independent press. The void it leaves is incalculable.