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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Oct 2011 : 21:47:11
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DAILY OBSERVER NEWS Compendium on Sharia Law validated
"Thursday, October 13, 2011
The judiciary, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday organised a one-day validation workshop on the compendium of Sharia Personal Law on divorce, marriage and inheritance applications in The Gambia, at a ceremony held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.
Declaring the workshop open, the chief justice of The Gambia, Emmanuel A. Agim, said that the compendium is not about a new law and described Sharia as a divine law that exists by virtue of divine ordering.
“We all know that not many people access the knowledge of Sharia Law, and for knowledge to be useful it must be accessible by a large number of people; and when you consent to law the need becomes more urgent, because one of the requirements of an effective legal system is to make sure that the law is known to the majority of the people,” he remarked.
According to him, the government in its Legal Sector Strategic Paper emphasised that its objective is to ensure wider access to all persons living in The Gambia, “and there is no doubt that the majority of the Gambian population are Muslims,” he said. He added that a great number of these people believe in the Sharia Personal Law.
He noted that the Sharia Law is very sensitive and something that needs to be given a lot of attention, “if people are really committed to taking justice to the majority”. He disclosed:
“The judiciary for the past two and a half years has remained committed to pursuing the government’s objective to wider access to justice and that is why we embarked on vigorous and ambitious programme on reviving the Cadi Court system, and so much have been done to put every thing in place”.
Commenting on the compendium of the Sharia Personal Law, Chief Justice Agim said that those were the latest ones and that more are to come. “Many people approach the Cadi Courts without knowing what is happening in those courts; they just feel a sense of injustice, whether they will be right or wrong.
We want people to know their rights, responsibilities and obligations and to know their rights from their homes before they get to the court, so that it will reduce unfair treatment and will also reduce disunity in the family,” he further explained.
He then thanked the consultants for their dedication and commitment shown in the development of this important document. Marie Saine-Firdaus, one of the consultants of the compendium, thanked the judiciary and UNDP for the confidence they have in them to take this noble assignment on behalf of the Gambia government.
She described the assignment as a challenge and at the same time a responsibility as Gambians, to share their knowledge and try to make sure that the administration of justice in the country is improved for the benefit of all.
“We have endeavoured together to do justice to the work. Also we all know The Gambia has a dual system and we have limited applications of Sharia to Muslims,” she said.
She further pointed out that they also looked at other laws of the country; first the basic law of the land i.e the constitution and other issues related to Sharia Laws and they also looked at the primary and secondary sources related to the work.
She finally said that they did their level best to ensure they exhaust the objectives of the assignment, and would welcome opinions and comments and contributions towards the document, so that it will be enriched.
Justice Mama Fatima Singhateh, a High Court judge, who is also responsible for all UNDP activities in the judiciary, spoke at length on the rationale behind the workshop, which she said is to review the document prepared by the two able consultants: Mary Saine-Firdaus and Alhaji Ousman Jah.
She thanked the UNDP for the financial support they gave to the judiciary for the past two years, and further thanked the chief justice for his invaluable contribution to the development of the country’s judicial system.
Other speakers included Alhaji Ousman Jah, one of the consultants; and Hon. Justice Abdoullahi Usman, Sharia, High Court judge in Nigeria, who spoke on the significance of Sharia.
The validation workshop was attended by High Court judges, legal practitioners, cadis, among other Islamic scholars. John Belford, the judicial secretary, chaired the ceremony."
Author: Sheriff Barry
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Edited by - kobo on 13 Oct 2011 21:49:08 |
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