Somalilandsun – Good and wonderful news has beckoned Somaliland as far as our judiciary and justice system is concerned.
We look forward to having a new dawn in our justice management; a new dawn that should have its limits go beyond the horizons for the positive side of both human and property rights.
In this special tribute we pay the Chief Justice Adan Haji Ali, the very short period he has served in the post may as well be pointers of where we are headed to as far as justice management in the country is concerned.
As by way of this honour, we call upon the judiciary, other arms of state and the members of the public at large to render him support in his efforts of not only streamlining, but putting our justice management at par with international standards.
So far, the two major and high profile, sensitive and potentially explosive political cases he has presided over has shown and depicted a kind of a manager who is fiercely independent, defends it and wants to see it acknowledged. We do.
First it was the right to assemble that the courts ruled against the state and secondly it was the one on the elections date that needed constitutional elaborations.
In the latter, to their chagrin and contrary their expectations, the courts ruled to the state’s favour.
A phrase on the verdict whose clauses guided the ruling revealed how fiercely the court was independent and poked holes in the plaintiff’s conduct propping them to be more diligent in their service for the public.
It in fact pointed out that they had not bothered to bring up calling to the attention of the court the real bone of contention!
We give the above review to underpin the fact that the Chief Justice who appreciated his predecessor’s efforts and decided to go a step further and opt for the upgrading of the courts to wield more authorities is indeed a diligent fellow sincere and faithful to his expected servitude.
Time and again he has been calling for the speedy dispensing of justice, something we see as perhaps the utmost priority of his edevours.
This latest, in a seminar for the judges, he has just reiterated the same fact, underscoring its importance once more.
In a nutshell, what he has just said to the magistrates and the judges is that justice delayed is justice denied.
This adage is more than a mere saying. It is fundamentally the real and starling fact ought to be uppermost at all times, and stuck, on the minds of the police, prosecution and judiciary departments.
The Chief Justice is right and truly, pragmatic in his words and deeds.
On the other hand, we support what he mentioned concerning specializing in judicial fields.
As per experiences, qualifications and formidability of the line-tasks in question, we of course need commercial courts, criminal ones, those for the juvenile and Sharia based cases etcetera to be introduced in the country.
This would further ease the dispensing chores of the justice system and its associated management. Lastly, we appeal for the need to have judgments read out openly, when giving verdicts as per international standards.
Thus, the presiding judicial officer, he or she, whether a magistrate or a judge, give an elaborative pointer or narration of the derivative reasoning leading to a particular judgement.
This would depict clear transparency and sincerity based on what logics may entail as far as jurisprudence is concerned.
Keep up Chief Justice, the nation is watching.
This is an original editorial of The Horn Tribune-THT an English weekly published in Hargeisa by the state owned Dawan Media group
