Six more judges sworn in, ready to serve in team of 43

SIX judges were sworn in by acting Governor-General Job Pomat at the Government House yesterday, bringing the total number of judges in the country to 43, according to Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika.
Sir Gibbs said the judges were appointed on merits with regards to their performance as lawyers and magistrates. They were appointed from different provinces to give balance to the PNG judiciary system.
“We want to have balance in the judiciary, that’s why we identify talents from all over the country so that we have a proper and true representative bench made up of Papua New Guineans and not just one-sided,” Sir Gibbs said.
“And, of course, the people we appoint must get through to judiciary on merits and so those ones that were sworn in today were appointed on merits through their performances.”
The six judges appointed were Jeffrey Shepherd (for three years), Sinclair Gora, John Numapo Vergil Narokobi (10 years each), Paulus Dowa and Elizabeth Suelip (for 12 months each).
All were lawyers except for Gora and Numapo who were magistrates.
Sir Gibbs said it was a career development for Gora and Numapo who started off as lawyers, then became magistrates and now judges.
“They have done well as magistrates so we give them the higher responsibility in the judiciary.”