Eight senior magistrates’ terms extended

THE Judicial Legal Service Commission (JLSC) has extended another 12 months the appointments of eight acting principal magistrates.
The eight are Lorna Sani, Jasper Amanu, Albert Daniels, Nancy Lipai, Kimberly Berem, Stanley Bino, Poning Makap and Magdeline Kivu.
JLSC chairman and Justice Minister and Attorney-General Pila Niningi made the announcement yesterday after the commission’s meeting.
He said being appointed as a magistrate is a lonely job that most lawyers do not like to take.
“We do a thorough job by carrying out background checks on lawyers who have standards and ethics with discipline before making appointments for them to become magistrates,” he said.
Chief Magistrate Mark Pupaka said the maximum number of magistrates allowed for the department is 200 but there were only 87 nationwide to deal with backlogs.
“The reappointment of the eight principal magistrates with the existing eight adds to 16, with 17 confirmed principal magistrates that give a total of 33 principal magistrates who will be presiding under the Grade 5 jurisdiction of the district courts,” he said.
He said only 53 District Courts nationwide have magistrates who were residing there and presiding on cases.
“The magisterial service sends magistrates for court circuits to those district courts that do not have magistrates just for circuit, which is costly,” he said.
Chief Ombudsman Richard Pagen, who is a JLSC member, said the commission had the duty to appoint magistrates who must do their jobs.