ONGWEDIVA -The Minister of Justice, Utoni Nujoma, has encouraged stakeholders in the criminal justice system to find innovative mechanisms to address the daunting huge case backlog in the lower courts of the Omusati Region.
Currently, Omusati has 1 725 outstanding criminal cases with Outapi court at 987 cases, followed by Okahao with 563 cases and 175 cases in Ruacana.
According to Nujoma his ministry is aware of the need to reduce the backlog in criminal cases in most of the lower courts. He said the backlog violates the constitutional rights of the suspects to a speedy trial and the accused person’s liberty.
“The speedy disposal of criminal cases was prioritized to ensure that the constitutional guarantee of ensuring liberty of individuals is upheld through the early finalization of cases,” said Nujoma.
Nujoma made the remarks at the inauguration of the just renovated Outapi Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The court complex which was inaugurated in 1994 recently got a new facelift with the addition of a courtroom, cash hall, boardroom, holding cells, administrative offices and ablution facilities, at a cost of N$19.3 million.
Previously all cases were handled in the single courtroom forcing district magistrates to operate from their chambers to make room for regional magistrates to proceed unhindered.
Omusati has three magistrates responsible for the Outapi, Okahao and Ruacana courts.
Nujoma was pleased that the court process in Omusati has shifted from analogue recordings to digital.
“The digital recording system of court proceedings is better than the analogue system, which often contained inaudible recordings and thus produced unreliable transcripts of records,” said Nujoma.
He urged staff to take care of the infrastructure to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses.
He is expected to inaugurate the Eenhana court today in the Ohangwena Region.