Village court officials to be paid

VILLAGE court officers will be put on payroll and have their outstanding allowances sorted out soon, according to the Justice Department.
The department said in a statement that work had started to put peace officers and magistrates on payroll as it was Justice Minister Bryan Kramer’s plan to sort out all their outstanding allowances.
Kramer said there was a need to improve the village court system within the judiciary when he became the justice minister.
“He met with Village Courts and Land Mediation Secretariat in December and the Department of Personnel Management (DPM) in January to help begin the process of getting the officers paid,” the statement said.
“The village court was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1973, and over the years, has evolved from a mostly traditional-based system of solving disputes to a contemporary justice system.”
Despite village court officers receiving monthly allowances through the Justice Department and Attorney-General in partnership with DPM and Finance Department since 2013, all officers were not being paid because of financial shortfalls.
Kramer said village court was the most accessed justice service mechanism available and the officers who operated in rural and remote areas that upheld the rule of law must be paid.
“We’re working to get the peace officers on payroll and will do the same for magistrates and other officials like clerks,” he said.
“The two main tasks are to get them on the payroll and find the money to pay them.”
Kramer said the Ministry of Justice had been working with the Village Courts and Land Mediation Secretariat and DPM to ensure names of officers in all provinces were submitted to be put on payroll.