Govt tables Bill to increase sitting of Guyana CoA

The Government on Monday tabled a Bill during the 50th sitting of the National Assembly to increase the number of sitting Judges of the Court of Appeal to not less than five and not more than nine. The Bill was presented by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC.

The Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill 2022 seeks to amend Section 34 (1) of the Court of Appeal Act, Cap 3:01, which presently provides that the Judges of the Court of Appeal shall include not less than two and not more than five Justices of Appeal.
Early last month, the Attorney General announced that the Government was consulting with the Judiciary and the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) to amend the law to increase the complement of Judges at the Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown.
In making the announcement, Nandlall had explained the current complement of Judges, which is not less than two and not more than five, is inadequate having regard to the caseload that is leaving the High Court.

The Court of Appeal has one courtroom and is presided over by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud.
From time to time, the Chief Justice, who is an ex-officio Justice of Appeal, along with High Court Judges, are called, if necessary, for a full bench sitting of the Court of Appeal.
Nandlall had also disclosed plans to make the Court of Appeal itinerant. Once the appellate court becomes itinerant, while there is a complement of Judges sitting in Demerara, there will also be a complement sitting continuously in Berbice and Essequibo.
Commenting on the transformational changes taking place in the justice system, he had said, “After 50 years of independence, we cannot continue doing things the way we have been doing them conventionally. The litigation load has increased one thousand times from independence to now and therefore as an institution, the Judiciary will also have to be innovative.”
Construction works are ongoing at the Court of Appeal to accommodate another courtroom. The PPP/C Government has always maintained that it considers the administration of justice central to Guyana and an important factor in the country’s democratic, economic and social progress.