State prosecutors training ends

The two day capacity building for state prosecutors working at the Attorney General Chambers last Saturday ended at the Legal Capacity Building offices in Banjul.

The training was aimed among others to train state prosecutors in areas of concern to them.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Edward Anthony Gomez hailed the brilliant exposures of the resources person while describing Fafa M' bai as assent in the legal fraternity.

Justice Minister said without the invaluable support of the Legal Capacity Building Project PHASE 2 in organizing such an educative forum for state prosecutors this would not have been possible adding that his ministry will continue their partnership with the LCBP project.

He urged state prosecutors to be professionals in their work, adding that their roles are important in justice dispensation.

Speaking in a post training interview with journalists, Sanna Dahaba, Project Coordinator of LCBP Phase 2 said the objective of the project is to strengthen the legal system through the introduction of incremental reforms that will improve efficiency and effectiveness, adding that it will better ensure access to justice for the poor. "The project provides support to three main beneficiary institutions - Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, and Gambia Bar Association (GBA) and to some others stakeholders in the sector such as the police prosecutors,” Mr. Dahaba added. The purpose of the training, Dahaba added, is to strengthen the capacities of the state prosecutors in the areas of prosecution for effective and efficient justice delivery in the Gambia.

He said LCBP 2 will always play its role in contributing to free, fair and speedy justice delivery in the Gambia that would ensure access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged. "Despite the limited resources the legal sector is registering a remarkable achievement in ensuring that justice is achieved at all times," he concluded.

For his part, the Chief Justice of the Gambia Hon Emmanuel Agim also join the Justice Minister in hailing the efforts of the LCBP project towards the Judiciary and Justice   Ministry.

CJ Agim said there has been lot of reforms made at the Judiciary all geared towards making justice accessible to all, adding that courts encourage the fundamental human rights of the accused persons.

Ask ask about the impact his newly  published book 'The Gambia Legal System' has on the judiciary and law students, CJ Agim said it was the first book on the Gambia Legal System. Students of the Law school at the university of the Gambia, he stated, are presently using the book.

On the backlog of case, Agim said cases has been speed up and fast moving compared to previous ones.

The training, which was moderated by Dr Henry Carrol, Law Lecturer at the UTG and Justice Joseph Wowo, Court of Appeal Judge, was characterized by lectures and presentations and question and answers session.