New judges offer relief to jam-packed courts

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By DAPHNE WANI
THE judiciary is confident it will dispose of the backlog of cases with the increase in the number of judges, says Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia.
Sir Salamo said the swearing-in of five new judges of the National Court and Supreme Court by Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae yesterday had brought the total number of judges to 43.
“These new judges will relieve the more senior judges of their current workload of cases,” he said.
“The judiciary is confident that it will address the huge backlog of cases that are piling up in court.”
He said the judiciary was confident that it could now deal with pressing court cases quickly.
“We are confident that we will dispose of almost all of the election petition cases by June 2018, with the assistance of these new judges,” Justice Sir Salamo said.
The new judges are Justice Jim Wala Tamate, Acting Justice Sinclair Peniel Gora, Acting Justice David Abiri Susame, Acting Justice John Ritchie Benaud Kaumi and Acting Justice John Kamane Numapo.
Justice Tamate will be based in Port Moresby and assigned to the human rights track to assist Justice David Cannings.
Acting justices Kaumi and Numapo will be based in the Lae National Court taking the number there to four.
Acting Justice Susame will be based in Kokopo to replace the late Justice Salatiel Lenalia.
Acting Justice Gora will be posted to the Wewak National Court to assist Justice Iowa Geita.