Fate of Justice Samuel Awich to be discussed at Bar meeting

While the garbage collection issue may be settled soon, tonight, the bar association meets to discuss the fate of Justice Samuel Lungole Awich. A faction of the bar is inviting Justice Awich to resign. And if he doesn’t resign they will ask the Governor General, Sir Colville Young, to remove him from office for misbehavior. The reason is because of “persistent failure to render timely decisions in breach of his duties of office.” But not all the lawyers are in agreement and the seasoned and experienced members of the association intend to put up a fight. As part of tonight’s debate, the bar will also discuss outstanding judgments in cases by other justices. Channel Five has received a copy of the fifty two cases that will be brought up and the untimely length of trials by every magistrate is mentioned. For the man who is the subject of tonight’s association meeting, Samuel Lungole Awich, the bar intends to examine fifteen of his cases; rulings in eleven of the cases have been reserved from four to six years. Of the cases which judgment has been delivered, the rulings took from eight months to over four and a half years. Even eleven cases heard by Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh are to be scrutinized by the bar. Judgments in five of those cases are still pending. But in six cases, the rulings took from three to four and a half years. One justice who won’t be discussed for too long is Justice Adolph Lucas. Only one case is to be examined in which the ruling took a little over three years. Seven of Justice John Muria’s cases are to be examined. No judgments are pending in any of his cases. His rulings took anywhere from six months to a little over two years. Justice Michelle Arana has a decent track record. Ten of her cases are to be examined and rulings have been delivered in nine of them in less than two years. Only one case took a substantial amount of time; the case of Joyce Adolphus versus Muriel Tillett which was delayed for eight years before a ruling was delivered. But the judge with plenty cases that gathered dust is also Troadio Gonzalez. In two cases, it took almost a decade before he gave his ruling. In three of Gonzalez’s cases, judgments are reserved. Of those three suits, the case of Reginald McIntosh versus Guadalupe Escalante and Carlos Perez has been pending since May1999. That’s ten years and four months and those parties are still waiting for a ruling. But in the case of DFC versus Classic Woods Limited, he broke the decade long record. That case was heard on September sixth, 1994, that’s fourteen long years without a judgment.
But tonight it’s about Justice Awich. We’ll tell you how his fate fears before the bar in tomorrow’s newscast.