Set cases on time: Judge

National

A NATIONAL Court judge has urged lawyers dealing with election petitions to prepare cases within the specific time given to assist the court in delivering results on time.
“The Election Petition Rules 2017 gives enough information to lawyers to act on their own about the procedures,” Justice Collin Makail, pictured, said.
“Parties are guided by these rules from directional hearing stages, to pre-trial, status conference, and when to file and serve notices on each of the parties.”
He said a successful candidate should be respected and given the freedom to represent their people because that was what the people wanted.
Makail said disputes always arose during the elections and that was why the new rules of the petitions were created to deal with the petitions in an expedient manner.
“In the past, there were no rules for the lawyers to follow,” Makail said.
“Once a petition was filed, the task was on the lawyer to speed up the case for trial which takes months of delay for the petition to be dealt with.”
Makail said the new rules were user-friendly and lawyers were expected to perform their roles correctly instead of running back to the court and seeking supervision.
Makail made these statements on Friday when he refused an application seeking to dismiss an election petition against East New Britain Governor Nakikus Konga for failure to comply with court orders.
The application filed by lawyer Andano David Lorawi, representing Konga, for non-compliance of court orders by the petitioner Sir Leo Dion to file witness affidavits on time.