By Patrick N. Tokpah (contributor-Bong)
The Coordinator of Trial Judges, Titus Railey, decried the lack of typewriters, deployable court facilities in the county as challenges confronting judiciary system in Bong County.
“Your Honor and everyone in here; let me register with grief that our courts are challenged. Our courts lack as common as typewriters, the facilities that host our court are in deployable conditions. Our magistrates are suffering. We need timely redress from the government and partners,” Mr. Railey noted.
However, the Criminal “Court E” resident judge in Gbarnga, Bong County, Cornelius Flomo Wennah, wants trial jurors to uphold the confidence reposed in them during the discharge of their duties in the county.
Delivering his charge at the official opening of the February AD 2023 Term of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court on Monday, Cllr. Wennah informed the jurors that the life and liberty of parties involved in cases at the court lie in the preview of the jurors, stressing the need for them to uphold integrity through the dispensation of their decisions.
Judge Wennah who spoke in the absence of the assigned Judge, J. Boimah Kontoe, admonished perspective jurors to dispense justice in accordance with the law noting, “You need to uphold your trust and confidence; what you are doing is for the state and for the sake of your country and the oath you took; I am therefore urging all of your to do the best thing as possible at all times.”
Cllr. Wennah also wants prosecutors and defense lawyers including those practicing law in the courts to continue working harder to keep the wheel of justice turning in the county.
The Bong County Attorney, Jonathan Flomo assured Judge Wennah of their commitment to working with trial judges and magistrates for the speedy adjudication of cases and dispensation of justice and revealed the need for trial jurors to be impartial in their judgment; stating that one must be just and free of corruption before dispensing justice.
There are 39 sexual offensive cases and 60 criminal cases, totaling to 99 cases on the dockets of the February A.D. 2023 Term of court in the County.
According to the Judiciary Law of Liberia, circuit court shall meet four times a year in quarterly sessions and that the circuits shall be entitled to the February, May, August and November sessions.
