‘Judicial system well equipped’
THE judicial system is now well equipped to handle local cases by our people, says Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga.
Speaking in Parliament this week, Mr Turaga said in 2023, the appointment of new judicial officers saw an increase in the number of local and qualified men and women appointed to the bench.
“With the proper remuneration deserving of individuals who have spent much of their careers contributing to Fiji’s legal system and jurisprudence, the judicial system is now well equipped to handle local cases by our people who are well qualified to do so and able to understand local context when it is required,” Mr Turaga said.
“This is also to ease the load of the numerous cases that are before our courts today, which had to be audited by the Acting Chief Justice (A/CJ) himself— was this ever done before?”
He said in 2021, there were eight new appointments, in 2022, seven were appointed to the bench, in 2023 to date — a record total of 22 judicial officers have been appointed: 11 judges (three women) and 11 magistrates (eight women).
“This is change and I am very proud to be part of such a development in Fiji.
“I would like to highlight that we have abled locals who have the experience and qualifications to take on board huge responsibilities to move us forward, more so those officers who are already within the institution.”
He said statistics from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Office revealed sexual and non-sexual offences for 2023 and this year was quite worrying.
“The DPP’s office continues to recruit officers to better prosecute the number of cases on behalf of the State and I support its efforts on intensive training programmes for its officers as well as for the police and other statutory partners.”