Court of Appeal backlog climbs to 2000 cases, with appeals languishing for years 

Appeals filed as far back as 2015 remain unheard in Guyana’s Court of Appeal, contributing to a backlog of approximately 2000 cases, despite recent judicial appointments, expanded court facilities, and the rollout of digital systems.
The extent of the delay was highlighted during the opening of the 2026 law year, where President of the Guyana Bar Association Kamal Ramkarran revealed that several appeals he personally filed between 2015 and 2019 have never been listed for hearing.

“One notice of appeal was filed on the 11th of December 2015, another on the 16th of November 2016, a notice of cross appeal dates from the 25th of September 2017, and a third notice of appeal was filed on the 30th of January 2019,” Ramkarran said. “The oldest one of those that I could find… was filed more than 121 months ago… None of them have ever come up for any reason.”
Ramkarran told the full bench that prolonged appellate delay has become normalised within the legal profession.
“I sit and wait for them to come up like the hundreds of other lawyers who must be in the same situation with their appeals, and I do nothing about it,” he said. “The system becomes the way it does because we all accept it.”
He warned that delay is not merely procedural but amounts to a denial of justice, with consequences that extend well beyond individual litigants.
“Delay means that there has been no justice,” Ramkarran said. “We may think that cases only affect litigants, but that is not so. What the courts do and do not do has wide repercussions in society.”
To illustrate the long-term effects of judicial delay, Ramkarran recounted a commercial case that began in January 2000 and is expected to conclude only in April 2026, after more than 26 years of litigation through the local courts and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
“At the beginning of the case, the President of the Court had a dramatic roll call of the personnel who played various roles in the case… All of them were dead 26 years later before the case could be finally resolved,” he said.
The matter involved an injunction that remained in place for over 11 years, preventing a bank from selling assets to recover a loan of approximately US$2.5 million.
“The injunction was granted on the 16th of May 2001 and discharged… on the 7th of June 2012,” Ramkarran said, noting that the bank was unable to recover under its debenture and had to pursue alternative measures.
He linked such delays directly to high interest rates and constrained economic activity.
“When I came into practice… I used to wonder why bank interest rates were so high, 19 per cent and 22 per cent on loans, not realising that it was a cycle,” he said. “The banks couldn’t get money back in the court system, and the interest rates reflected that risk.”
While acknowledging that the High Court has undergone significant reform, Ramkarran cautioned that similar progress has not yet taken root at the appellate level, where procedure continues to be governed by outdated legislation.
“The Court of Appeal Act and rules come to us from 1959, 67 years ago, and need to be urgently revamped,” he said. “Appeals now take forever to come up for hearing.” “We need not be wedded to laws and rules which no longer serve their purpose,” he added.

Prolonged shortage of appellate Judges
Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Roxane George confirmed that the Court of Appeal backlog stands at about 2000 cases, attributing the accumulation largely to a prolonged shortage of appellate Judges.
“The Court of Appeal has a backlog of about 2000 cases due to the lack of Judges to hear cases for several years,” Justice George said.
She noted that the appointment of additional Justices of Appeal in 2025 has created the conditions for backlog reduction, supported by a new case management framework.
“With the appointment of additional justices of appeal in 2025, a robust case management system will be implemented for a structured approach to reducing the backlog while addressing current appeals and applications,” she said.
According to Justice George, since the introduction of the e-litigation portal in January 2024, 607 appeals and applications have been filed, with 298 matters filed in 2025 alone.

Increased complement of appellate Judges
Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall also spoke on the matter and acknowledged the persistence of appellate delay, citing a matter in which an appeal has remained unresolved for nearly a decade.
“The appeal is still pending in the Court of Appeal… Ten years now, and the appeal has not been heard,” the AG said, referring to a case originating in 2016.
While he reported that there is “hardly any backlog in the High Court”, Nandlall conceded that unresolved matters have effectively shifted upward.
“But of course, the backlog has been elevated,” he said, adding that the increased complement of appellate Judges should improve expediency.

Corrosive threats to public confidence
Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh also addressed the issue of delay, describing it as a fundamental threat to public confidence in the justice system.
“Delay remains one of the most corrosive threats to public confidence,” Singh said.
While noting that progress has been made, particularly in criminal matters, Singh acknowledged that delay continues to affect other areas of the court system.
“Thankfully, that is less present now, especially in the criminal courts. It continues to be present in the civil courts to some extent,” he said.
Singh stressed that delay must not be accepted as unavoidable and called for stricter case management by both Judges and lawyers.
“Delay cannot be accepted as inevitable,” he said. “Criminal and civil cases must be prepared properly, scheduled realistically, and progressed purposefully. Adjournments must be granted only for good cause.”
He added that judicial discretion must be exercised to advance, rather than hinder, the timely resolution of matters.
“Where discretion exists, it must be exercised to advance, not frustrate, the fair disposal of cases,” Singh said.
Despite the challenges, judicial leaders expressed optimism that recent reforms, increased judicial appointments, and improved systems will reverse long-standing delays, provided vigilance is maintained.
“Never again should a roll call be read out of all those who have died along the long path to justice,” Ramkarran warned.