Since his appointment in December 2023, Justice Nicholas Browne-Marke has swiftly initiated significant reforms within Sierra Leone’s Judiciary.

President Julius Maada Bio named Supreme Court judge Hon. Nicholas Browne-Marke as Acting Chief Justice on Thursday, December 7th, 2023, replacing Desmond Babatunde Edwards who was on leave.

The Judiciary of Sierra Leone has recently provided updates on the transformative changes implemented three months ago following the appointment of Honourable Justice Nicholas Colin Browne-Marke.

His appointment garnered widespread support from the public, judiciary members, and the legal profession alike.

Justice Browne-Marke has wasted no time in implementing various measures aimed at reforming the judiciary, promoting best practices, and reinstating its core values since assuming his role.

Some of these reforms include:

Fairness in Human Resource

Shortly after his appointment and pursuant to theAll Pages Courts Act, 1965, the Ag. Chief Justice on the advice of the management of the judiciary undertook transfers/postings of Judicial Staff for the year 2024 in accordance with the constitutional mandate of the Judiciary provided for by section 120 (2) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991.

The decision was backed by data which indicated that some Magistrates had stayed in a particular location for three to four years without any changes. It was also done in a bid to revert to best practice in the days when transfers were based on the core values of independence, equality, impartiality, accountability and integrity and was not based on practice of favouritism.

Backlog Cases

There were numerous complaints about cases filed for hearing but not being assigned by the Chief Justice. This caused distress and frustration to litigants and lawyers alike. On assumption of office, the Ag Chief Justice made the assignment of backlog cases one of his first priorities. All backlog cases found in the office of the Chief Justice were immediately assigned to Judges. These numbered over 500. The decision was published by the Judiciary Communications Unit so as to inform the public and in the interest of fairness and transparency.

Arbitrary Removal of Cases

Judges and Magistrates had long complained of files being removed from them after they had started hearing the matter. This was not only demoralising but gave the impression of interference in the administration of justice and unfairness to litigants. This practice was stopped and a case once assigned and hearing commenced would not be arbitrarily removed from the assigned Judge or panel unless there were compelling reasons and in the interest of justice.

Court of Appeal

Under the old system panels in the Court of Appeal were fixed by the whim of the former Chief Justice with some judges in up to sixty (60) and more panels. This meant that the Judges were unable to complete the cases as they found it very difficult to navigate the many panels they were part of.

Additionally, some litigants and their lawyers were able to choose panel under the old system and this was very unfair on the other side who effectively lost the case before it started.

Thirdly, taking into consideration the lack of enough courtrooms, having so many panels sitting was a logistical nightmare not only for the administration but for the judges as well.

Hence, with the full approval from judges, six fixed panels were created to ensure the smooth transition from the old system to the new one. On the setting up of the panels, those several cases which had been previously assigned to the random panels set up by Chief Justice Edwards, but for which no hearing had commenced were returned to the Registry and assigned to the fixed panels. This system had been working since December 2023 immediately after the Acting Hon. Chief Justice was appointed by His Excellency on the 7th December, 2023. These panels will stay fixed till July 2025 when the Judges will be rotated.

Fair assessment from judges, lawyers and litigants revealed that the action taken by the Acting Chief Justice has been very successful as there is now the added assurance added assurance that their cases will now be heard speedily with the certainly that panels will not be put together to please any interested party.

Further, the Acting Chief Justice reassigned pending Commissions of Inquiry matters for which much progress has not been made in the interest of expeditious and effective service delivery. The delay in the handling of cases before the Court of Appeal was largely due to the Judge/member ratio which indicated that most of the previous panels had cases assigned to them unevenly thereby leaving certain set of panels overwhelmed with cases.

The reassignment has ensured that cases are assigned evenly so as to make for fair distribution of files among them thereby ensuring effective service delivery and expeditious handling of cases.

Magistrates Courts

The Ag. Chief Justice has directed that the Justice of the Peace (JP’s) Court be immediately activated to look into all minor matters outside Preliminary Investigations (PI’s), in Pujehun an area that was without a Magistrate. Additionally, he assigned the Resident Magistrate in Bo, His Worship Mr. George Edwin was asked to commence Court sittings in Pujehun starting on Monday 15th January, 2024 to deal with Preliminary Investigations.

In a bid to respond to the ever rising number of cases from the Western Area Rural District Headquarter town of Waterloo and its environs, accounting for the highest number of cases per district, the Chief Justice on the 7th of February embarked on a needs assessment tour at the Waterloo and York Magistrates’ Courts and the Waterloo Correctional Centre.

The essence of the needs assessment was to ascertain whether the facilities available are suitable for hosting the operations of a High Court in the District.
The move was informed by data gathered including returns from Magistrates’ Courts across the country which affirmed the urgent need for the setting up and commencement of the High Court in Waterloo to circumvent the challenges faced by litigants as well as reduce the financial burden on the State.

He has also among other things ensured stern adherence to the provisions of the Courts Act of 1965 relating to the jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Courts in a given Judicial District thereby maintaining strict Magisterial jurisdiction.

Relationship with Stakeholders

The Hon. Justice Browne-Marke has equally maintained a cordial relationship with other key players in the Criminal Justice system including the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Legal Aid Board and the Police which has resulted in the immediate execution of the Orders of the Court.

Adoption Applications

Since he assumed office, the Acting Chief Justice has been monitoring applications for adoptions, particularly those filed on behalf of foreigners, so as to ensure strict adherence to the provisions of the Adoption Act, 1989, and to avoid the risk of child trafficking.

In January 2024, the Acting Chief received an expert delegation from the Dutch Document Investigation Unit of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Ministry of Justice and Security based in the Netherlands. The meeting, according to Angela A.W Trommelen, Senior Document Expert from the Netherlands Ministry of Justice and Security, was a fact-finding mission aimed at understanding Sierra Leone’s laws and procedures relating to adoption and the processes involved in prosecuting offenders.

In just three months, the Judiciary’s administration led by Honourable Justice Nicholas Browne-Marke is poised to ensure that the wheels of justice are up and running without any hinderance in upholding the constitution of Sierra Leone.

The issues faced by the Judiciary are enormous. Some date back years and exacerbated in recent years. What now underpins the Judiciary is the delivery of justice without fear or favour, speedily and expeditiously. It will take time for all the gains to be seen, but the Ag Chief Justice has started on a positive footing and that includes developing a workable mechanism to ensure the timely monitoring and submission of monthly returns from Clerks and Registrars assigned to Magistrates and Judges respectively.