‘I helped to improve legal landscape of The Gambia’

As former Chief Judge of The Gambia how did the people feel your impact?I was Chief Judge of The Gambia for about four years. But I was in that country for 10 years.  First, I was Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), judge of the Court of Appeal and then Chief Judge.  My impact should be […]

As former Chief Judge of The Gambia how did the people feel your impact?
I was Chief Judge of The Gambia for about four years. But I was in that country for 10 years.  First, I was Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), judge of the Court of Appeal and then Chief Judge.  My impact should be calculated in the way I helped to improve the legal system of that country.
How was the system before you stepped in?
When I came in as DPP, I met a sham prosecution system which I turned around. I made it more humane and effective.  I wrote materials for trial criminal process to improve police performance; how not to arrest suspects, how they should be treated, how to take statements from them etc. The first book I wrote on Gambian laws helped improve the criminal court system. It helped to reduce arbitrary arrests, detentions and the use of difficult methods to obtain statements from accused persons.
Did your tenure improve in training lawyers?
We trained many lawyers. It helped in no small measure to improve the ministry of justice, particularly public prosecution. These were some of the things I did for five years before I was made a judge. The then Ghanaian Chief Judge recommended me based on his observation of my performance in courts.
Which were your particular judgments that impacted the system?
As a judge, particularly in the Court of Appeal, I gave decisions that changed the legal landscape of The Gambia. They were landmark decisions that brought new developments. One of them brought about speedier trial of cases. This was in the area of commercial cases which in The Gambia then were not moving very fast. And this was affecting the investment climate of the country. With that decision judgments started coming out quicker. And interpretative cases were initiated.  That time I was chairman of Law Report Council for four years. Before then Law Reports could not be published. And you know that law system depends on cases previously decided by judges. With Law Report, it would make judges, lawyers and members of the public aware of the existence of certain cases. And this would also help them prepare their cases.  The few reports they had were coming fairly irregularly. So I had to change all that. If you go to The Gambia now they have regular Law Reports.  There are unprecedented changes.
Are these judgments available beyond The Gambia?
My judgments are all over the country and beyond. They populate most of The Gambia Law Reports. I was the President of Court of Appeal in that country that wrote more judgments than any other. These have changed the course of law and made it more vibrant and more relevant.
We understand that your tenure witnessed some reforms and sped up judiciary process?
As Chief Justice we did much. When I came in, The Gambian judiciary was virtually down and very unpopular. There were backlog of cases and corruption. All that was attended to. I amended the rules. I even noticed that some courts had no rules. And you know that a court without rules is like a Kangaroo court. The amendments made cases to move faster. We stopped unnecessary adjournments and introduced new case management techniques. Today if you look at the court system which was almost dead, it has been transformed. There were no personnel and rules. I revived the system when I brought judges from Nigeria. They were here and helped in training Gambian lawyers.
Are you saying that the judiciary system in The Gambia can now be comparable to any in Africa?
I don’t think there is any country in West Africa that has a more effective court system than Gambia. In Nigeria, they have tried to introduce some of the reforms we introduced in The Gambia. For example, Cross River State, they spent over N13 million to bring in civil procedure reforms through consultancy, sensitisation and workshop. In Abuja, they spent N80 million. Lagos is trying but not actually very effective. How much did we spend on that in The Gambia?  We spent next to nothing, just about 15,000 Dalasis for sensitization and few other things because I prepared the rules. And it worked almost perfectly. But many countries spent millions but it has not worked.
We hear you were behind the establishment of their Law School?
The profession is 100 years old in The Gambia. They never had Law School but I can say that I almost single-handedly caused the establishment of that school as chairman of law reporting council.
What is wrong with Nigerian judiciary?
Corruption! What’s the cause of corruption? Lack of values.  Lack of ethics. Where there are no principles then people are bound to be corrupt. If you want any system to succeed it has to be based on values. There is no society that can thrive if it is not driven by moral values. That’s very important. Even a family without moral values finds that the children will be wayward and corrupt. The problem with Nigeria is that there is no moral value system.
There are some judges today who attended school; they cheated in exams and attained positions through corruption. So having become judges what do we expect? They are products of a particular value system. Such judges cannot change overnight.