Gambian Chief Justice Presides Over Meeting of ECOWAS Chief Justices

Delivering the opening address at the just concluded second meeting of ECOWAS Chief Justices held in Abuja, His Lordship the Hon. Chief Justice of The Gambia, Abdoukareem Savage, stressed that apart from their traditional responsibility of protecting human rights,  safeguarding the independence of the judiciary and promoting the rule  of law, judges could, through the forum of the community judicial council, contribute to the  attainment of global development goals, such as poverty reduction and environment protection and generally to the ECOWAS regional integration process.

The meeting, which was convened to consider draft rules of procedures of the community Judicial council presented by the judicial and legal affairs committee and authorized to be prescribed by authority of the heads of states and government in August 2006, brought together Chief Justices, Supreme Court judges and senior judiciary and legal personnel from Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, said that ECOWAS was an institutional framework that involves the chief justices of ECOWAS Member States in decision-making in matters relating to the recruitment of judges of the Community Court of Justice and ensuring that the judges observe high moral value throughout the duration of their tenures.

During the two day deliberations and brainstorming, the heads of judicial institutions in ECOWAS member states adopted the rules of procedure of the Community Judicial Council to serve as the regulatory framework guiding the Community Court of Justice.

 The meeting of Chief Justices was preceded by a gathering in Abuja on the 11th and 12th September 2007 of judicial and legal technical experts from ECOWAS member states for review of the draft rules.

Dr Henry Carrol, Solicitor-General and Legal Secretary, represented the Attorney General’s Chambers at the experts’ meeting whilst Mrs Saffiatou Njai, Master and Registrar of the High Court represented the Judiciary.

The Hon Chief Justice earlier on joined his colleagues and thousands of judges, lawyers, judicial and legal rights officials at the commonwealth law conference held in Nairobi, Kenya.