By Bradley Mariori
The National Court of Justice held its third Court User Forum in Lae today, aimed at addressing the growing number of outstanding Warrant of Arrests and provide workable solutions.
With 6,721 bench warrant cases yet to be handled, Morobe Province is leading the number of Bench Warrant Cases with 1,485 cases dating back to 39 years ago since 1984.
Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika says they are in Lae to engage the views of the court users and allow them to collaborate with other members of the law and justice sector to deal with these cases.
He says they found this approach in engaging with the communities to be effective.
They have also partnered with other sectors of the Law and Justice Sector in relation to how matters should be brought forward across as there are authorities where people can bring their queries across to have it resolved.
He says they have engaged with media from time to time to address some of these issues and want to have the trust by engaging the community.
Chairman of Bench Warrant Committee, Justice Panuel Mogish says the onus is now on them to assess the situation and bring the figures down.
He says they’ve got two years to bring some reality into this before the country celebrates 50 years of Independence.
“We now have a link between the Judiciary, Formal Justice Sector and the Community,” Justice Mogish says.
“We are trying to bring it down to the district, LLG and ward level. Previously we have been talking and now we want to see a difference.
“We depend on each other in order to efficiently promote and administer the rule of the law. Our actions of inactions can have a positive or detrimental outcome to the wider community.”
Justice Mogish says they are premised on the view that ‘no problem is a problem when the users meaningfully engage to access the problem’ also on the idea that everyone can make a positive change that will benefit the society.
