Pegged at a cost of nearly $38m, the spanking new building which will now house the Kwakwani Magistrate’s Court and its living quarters, was commissioned and handed over to the Upper Demerara community yesterday.
It is the first time that the community is being outfitted with a dedicated court building.
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC, who chaired the proceedings, said that while simple, the ceremony was an extremely significant one, since it represents the advancements being made to ensure equal access to justice for all.
Noting her visit to the community some five years ago, Registrar of the Supreme Court, Sueanna Lovell, said that she was “quite horrified” when she saw the conditions under which the magistrates had been called upon to operate.
She said that the earlier facilities at which court sittings were held were unfit for the purpose, but noted that the magistrates nonetheless placed the needs of the community and the responsibility to the administration of justice above their personal comfort and persisted.
The road the Registrar said, has been a “long and winding” one, but expressed the judiciary’s satisfaction in realizing its goal of taking modern facilities to the community of Kwakwani and a measure of comfort to the magistrate and staff.
Sitting Magistrate Wanda Fortune, who will be presiding at the Kwakwani Magistrate’s Court, said that the new facility is a timely boost to the administration of justice in that district.
She shared her experiences of having to preside when sittings were accommodated in the Old Management Centre Guest House which she said had no windows.
The magistrate said that a “particular set of skills” were needed to navigate the dilapidated staircase and floor, and that sittings were sometimes subjected to the weather, which often caused a halt in proceedings.
Despite the challenges, however, she said that interest and dedication in ensuring the administration of justice was evident on the part of court staff, prosecutors, attorneys and litigants alike who continuously attended.
She said also, that when the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited her from being physically present for court, dispensing justice in the district did not come to a standstill as the combined efforts of acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards and stakeholders, ensured the necessary equipment to facilitate the remote attendance of prisoners, attorneys and other court users.
Magistrate Fortune said that the last location for sittings was a room in the Kwakwani Police Station where the internet quality was sometimes poor.
Against this background, she said the new building, equipped with facilities for remote hearings is momentous and heralds a new era where the weather will no longer disrupt proceedings, nor would court users have to continue braving the elements in a yard or on the road as they await their matters.
“This building means that I can dispense justice, and the people of this district can receive the same in a comfortable and relaxing environment,” she said.
Chancellor Cumming-Edwards in her address said that the court now has modest living quarters for the resident magistrate and clerk of court, noting that such facilities had to previously be rented.
Those housing accommodations she said, were not always ideal, but that magistrates forged ahead in the quest to ensure the delivery of justice irrespective of location and personal circumstances.
The Chancellor said that the new building has accommodation for magistrates and staff, a briefing room for travelling lawyers and a lock-up which she described as “modest.”
She said the total cost of the project was $37,856,838.
Like her, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC, who was also present at the opening ceremony, urged the residents of the community to take ownership of the building and to care it.
He said that government remains committed to partnering with the judiciary in executing its mandate of ensuring easy access to justice for all which he described as an inalienable constitutional right.
The court at Kwakwani sits twice monthly—on the first and third Fridays.
Following yesterday’s commissioning ceremony, Magistrate Fortune held her first sitting in the new court building.
