Will 2017 Case Backlog Affect CJ’s Contract Extension Offer?

Kenneth Benjamin

Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin succeeded Abdulai Conteh as the presiding judge of the Supreme Court back in 2011.  During his tenure on the bench, CJ Benjamin came under fire from the Bar Association in September 2017 for failing to render judgments in a timely manner, leading to a backlog in the number of outstanding cases before the high court.  Will that blemish on his professional image be taken into consideration when the time comes for government to approach him for a possible contract extension?  That’s what we asked the Attorney General in a one-on-one following today’s Cabinet meeting.  He told News Five that there are multiple ways to examine the issue.

Isani Cayetano

“In the case of CJ Benjamin, however, if he were to be asked to stay on for the next couple months or for an extended period of time, if that were the case, we’re looking at a presiding judge here who has had a complaint against him before insofar as the timeliness with which he is dispensing his cases.  Would this count against him or how does that factor into this approach to have a meeting with him to see where we go forward?”

Michael Peyrefitte

Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General

“Well you could argue it both ways.  You could say that this situation would be a reason to not offer him an extension.  You could say that this is exactly the reason why maybe you should offer him an extension and say, “Look, if you are willing to go for one more year, for example, and that’s all you’re willing to do, if that’s what you’re willing to do, then we would ask that you render your decisions within that period of time so that if and when you leave after that then we don’t have to have a new judge coming in and rehearing all those cases again.  So it’s one thing to say, “You know what, this is a person who we shouldn’t consider renewing because he hasn’t done his judgments.”  But then what do you do with all those judgments if you don’t renew and you have to go and re-litigate those matters all over again?  It may be a good reason to keep the person on for another year, but like I said, the government, the Solicitor General and the rest of the J.L.S.C. would have to want that, including the other judges, would have to want to stay as well.”