Chief Justice Presents Annual Judiciary Report
The Report of the Judges 2014 was presented to the acting Vice Regal by Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea Sir Salamo Injia at a brief ceremony at Government House this morning.
According to Sir Salamo, the Report is up-to-date and outlines the performance and progress of the judicial service in the country.
Sir Salamo noted that a major challenge facing the judiciary service is capacity building noting that currently there are only 40 judges throughout the country. Of these, only 15 are based in Port Moresby while the rest have been posted to the provinces.
Sir Salamo said, PNG would need between 60-80 judges to adequately cover the whole country.
However, despite this, Sir Salamo said, he is satisfied with the progress made so far to recruit new judges adding that plans are underway to have more judges recruited and posted to the provinces.
The Report of the Judges 2014 also details the progress of the construction of the new look Court House in Waigani.
According to the Chief Justice, the tendering process and awarding of contract for the construction of the new Waigani Court Complex will go before the Central Supply & Tenders Board (CSTB) and the National Executive Council for approval before work can begin. Construction is expected to commence before the end of 2015.
The presentation of the annual report by the Chief Justice is in accordance with Section 187 of the Constitution which required Judges to “give to the Head of State, for presentation to Parliament, an (annual) report on the work of the National Judicial System, with such recommendations as to improvement as they think proper.”
The Report of the Judges 2014 will be made public after it has been presented in Parliament.
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