The Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court, constructed inside the police station compound in the village, at a cost of more than $204M, opened on Monday, ending decades of struggles by residents to travel long distances for legal services.
Sittings will be held twice per week and will commence next Monday. Principal Magistrate Alan Wilson will be presiding.
Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards related the dire conditions that the Mahaicony court operated under for decades. Apart from the physical condition of the building, she said residents had to travel all the way to Vigilance court to access legal services.
“Vigilance is very far from here. It’s almost like going to Georgetown,” Cummings-Edwards observed, adding, “Police will file their cases there and that is where applications for domestic violence, applications for maintenance, applications for liquor and dance licence; all the necessary services that residents here need…have to be obtained from Vigilance….but now, with the advent of this facility, the legal services will be right here.”
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall reflected on the great transformation and upgrades that have taken place from the time he started his practice to now.
“We are far ahead of the Caribbean now when you compare what we are building to what obtains in the rest of the region,” he expressed.
Nandlall pointed out that the Government of Guyana has been commissioning one court after the next and that many more will be commissioned soon. Early in the first two weeks of 2025, courts will open at Mahdia and Mabaruma, and at several other locations across the country.
“Twenty years ago, commissioning an edifice of this type would be a huge event. Today, it’s quite normal,” he observed.
He reminded that for this year alone, the government commissioned a court for children at Wales, West Bank Demerara, which is the first of its kind outside of Georgetown. One at Port Kaituma has also been opened.
A multiplex court is also on the cards for Providence, East Bank Demerara, along with courts at Soesdyke, Parfaite Harmonie, and Tuschen.
