Your Excellency The Vice President, Aja Dr. Isatou Njie-Saidy
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly
My Lord The Chief Justice
My Lord The Chief Justice
Secretaries of State here present
Secretaries of State here present
Members of The National Assembly
Members of The National Assembly
Members of the Diplomatic Corp
Members of the Diplomatic Corp
Service Chiefs
Service Chiefs
Senior Government Officials
Senior Government Officials
Venerable Religious Leaders
Venerable Religious Leaders
Staff of ADR Secretariat
Staff of ADR Secretariat
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my honour and privilege to welcome you all to this history making event, i.e the opening of the first Alternative Dispute Resolution Secretariat in The Gambia.
It is my honour and privilege to welcome you all to this history making event, i.e the opening of the first Alternative Dispute Resolution Secretariat in The Gambia.
When I assumed office as Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice, one of the priorities I set for my Department was to accomplish the establishment of ADR. Having enjoyed the continuous support and encouragement from The President of the Republic and the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs, we have finally succeeded in establishing the Secretariat which forms the centre stage of the judicial reform programme initiated under the visionary and pragmatic leadership of His Excellency The President of The Republic Alhagie Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests
Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests
You will no doubt agree with me that the establishment of the ADR Secretariat is yet another significant mile post in our drive towards achieving our vision of transforming the Gambia into a model country second to none in Africa. Since there can be no meaningful socio-economic development, no foreign investment without an efficient and effective judicial system to settle disputes between parties and protects rights and interests of the people.
You will no doubt agree with me that the establishment of the ADR Secretariat is yet another significant mile post in our drive towards achieving our vision of transforming the Gambia into a model country second to none in Africa. Since there can be no meaningful socio-economic development, no foreign investment without an efficient and effective judicial system to settle disputes between parties and protects rights and interests of the people.
Today's event is the end product of the hard work of the staff of the Attorney General's Chambers and the ADR Secretariat, and I will like to thank all of them for making the day a success. Without their support, I would not have been successful in reaching this goal.
The ADR system is timely and is very critical to our judicial reform process. It will help us immensely to reduce the back log of cases in our court system and also provide relief to litigants who are already searching for an alternative way of solving their disputes without going through the long and costly litigation proceedings that characterizes our court system.
The ADR system is mandated to handle all types of disputes of civil nature; we will encourage our conventional courts to refer all commercial, land, family and employment disputes.
Despite the achievement made so far in our effort to reform the judicial process, I challenge the staff of the Secretariat to endeavour to make the ADR facility accessible to all and sundry for the enhancement of quick dispensation of justice without which no meaningful development can take place. This is only feasible if the beneficiaries are made aware of what benefits the ADR facility holds for them. Therefore it is imperative that you embark on massive sensitization programmes throughout the length and breadth of the country to make everyone aware of the facility.
As the line Department of state for the Secretariat, we will do everything humanly possible to provide you with all the required assistance you may need in discharging your constitutional responsibilities for the Gambian and non Gambian alike. As usual our doors will remain open to you anytime you need our assistance so I will implore on you all to be constantly in touch so that the service delivery system will immensely benefit the Gambian national as a whole.
To conclude, I wish to congratulate His Excellency, the President, the Government and entire Gambian people on the 14th Anniversary of the July 22nd Celebrations.