As the legal fraternity is striving to narrow down inequality before the law, The Gambia Bar Association (GBA) President, Lawyer Salieu Taal, has Wednesday called on young lawyers to do pro bono legal work in order to make justice accessible to all.
Speaking at the opening of a conference for young legal practitioners which was centred on Enhancing Access to Justice, Rule of Law, and Human Rights, lawyer Taal, deplored the fact that justice delivery in the country is punctuated by a slow pace, causing prison congestion.
The country’s new democratic dispensation has triggered the expansion of civil liberties. More Gambians are making their voices heard, reminding the authorities about the need to making access to justice a reality.
“As a legal profession and a key stakeholder in the administration of justice, we are duty bound to contribute towards improving the justice sector to ensure it delivers justice expeditiously, fairly, and within the reach of all Gambians,” he told a good number of young lawyers that stormed the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center, Kololi, some 15 km away from Banjul.
Taal further that the young lawyers should make consistent efforts with a view to bringing access to justice to the doorsteps of the average Gambian.
“I believe there is a need to make it mandatory for all legal practitioners to commit some of their time to pro bono work,” he added. “This will help instill a pro bono culture as part of our legal profession.”
He said the Bar Association should tap into young lawyers to benefit from their dynamism and passionate.
Every young lawyer, he went on, will become an alder one. “Every old and older lawyer was once a young lawyer. We must therefore chart the future of Bar together.”
For his part, the Doyen of the Bar Association, Lawyer Sourahata B.S. Janneh, dived into the progress that has been made since the change of regime.
“[I] would say that our nation is now doing better than many countries,” he remarked while making it very clear that “better is not equivalent to perfection which in the law is a perpetual objective, though seemingly unachievable.”
He then added: “To maintain its reputation and efficacy which truly means enhancement of the Gambian justice system, we must endeavor to seek and find the means of defeating the arrogant among us, Gambians, who see themselves as being above the law.”
The UNDP Resident Representative, Aissata DE, echoed similar sentiments, reminding everyone that “access to justice is a human right guaranteed by international instruments and the laws of The Gambia.”
She further stated that respect for the rule of law is ‘conerstone of any democracy’.
“Thus, access to justice, the rule of law, human rights and a thriving democracy are inseparable.”
UNDP’s Aissata DE seized the opportunity to reiterate the international body’s commitment to promoting access to justice, human rights, and to making sure the rule of law is upheld across the country.
