Chiefs and their tribunal members in the Central River Region recently concluded a two-day convergence at regional education conference hall in Janjanbureh to discuss issues surrounding the mandate of the district tribunal.
The convergence, according to organisers, was meant to remind the district tribunals on mandates to ensure fair courts and access to fair justice delivery, funded by the Canada Fund, through Concern Universal, and implemented by the Office of the Chief Justice of The Gambia.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Burang Danjo, Project Manager of Concern Universal, said the importance of the forum cannot be over-emphasised, adding that improving accessibility to fair justice delivery is a step in the right direction.
According to him, the entire objective of the initiative is to build the capacities of the tribunal to enable them provide fair justice to the public.
“New techniques are emerging and there is a need to maintain high standards of districts tribunal courts skill to meet the demanding needs for accessible fair, transparent and justice delivery”, he added.
For his part, Alhagie Ganyie Touray Governor of the region spoke at length on the important roles played by the district tribunal in providing clean and transparent district tribunal at their various levels.
Governor Touray called on the participants to participate fully during the course of the training and endeavour to go home with clear understanding of their mandates as district tribunals.
While stating that the forum provides the opportunity for participants to give and take, he commended Concern Universal and their partners for providing strategic support to ensure successful staging of the event.
Magistrate Dawda Jallow of Banjul Magistrates Court said Concern Universal is an NGO that had agreed with the government to provide strategic support to capacitise the district tribunal countrywide.
Noting that a Minister may at anytime suspend, cancel or vary any order made under subsection (1) of this section establishing a district tribunal or defining the jurisdiction of such tribunal or the limits within which the jurisdiction may be exercised, he differentiated between district authority and district tribunal.
Jallow said the Act clearly states that before a district tribunal court is executed at least 3 of the tribunal court members must be in place, if not the court would not be valid and competent.
