The Director of communications and public relations at the Judiciary of Sierra Leone has disclosed that the Judiciary of Sierra Leone has been ranked 108 with 0.44 overall score ahead of Cameroon, Turkey, Bolivia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Liberia and Guinea amongst host of other countries in the world in terms of rankings and progress on the rule of law.

Elkass Sannoh said the world justice project rule of law 2021 index has rated the Judiciary of Sierra Leone high ahead of thirty-one countries in the world during its global assessment amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.

He said the Judiciary of Sierra Leone has built an accountable and more transparent Judiciary with daily updates on all activities including court proceedings and delivery of judgements which was why the country was evaluated in 2020 for the first time with impressive gains ahead of many countries.

He said the index looked at the clarity of laws, accessible, fair and expedited justice system with the Judiciary deploying resident Magistrates in all districts and the deployment of high court judges in places where there weren’t sitting judges.

The Judiciary of Sierra Leone Director of communications further stated that the 2021 index shows that the rule of law has deteriorated with 84.7% of the world population who live in a country where rule of law weakening with greatest deadline in timeliness of justice and absence of discrimination especially during the covid 19 pandemic.

Elkass Sannoh said the world justice project is an independent, multidisciplinary organization working to create knowledge, build awareness and stimulate action to advance the rule of law worldwide.

He said in a year dominated by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the world justice project rule of law index 2021 was launched in the United States and relies on more than 138,000 households’ surveys, 4,200 legal practitioners and expert surveys to measure how the rule of law is experienced and perceived worldwide.

Elkass Sannoh pointed out that Sierra Leone was evaluated based on the Universal principles of the rule of law including accountability, just law, open government and accessible and impartial justice.