Justice Minister to launch citizens’ charter in coming days

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici will be launching a citizens’ charter in the coming days. The charter will set out the rights of citizens who make use of the law courts. This will be launched in the coming days.

“The charter is just the beginning and I am not satisfied. I want citizens to have clear timeframes on waiting time … but we will have an incremental approach,” Bonnici said, addressing a listening session organized by the government.

The minister, talking about the improvements in the justice sector, said that pending cases before the civil courts had gone down to less than 10,000 for the first time in a decade.

“These are the results and this is how we make a difference in people’s lives,” Bonnici said.

The minister said the mediation law was one of three priorities for the coming years, and will be extended. “Mediation shouldn’t be forced but I believe that if we introduce new systems that make us, people will willingly go for it,” he said.

Meanwhile, parliamentary secretary Stefan Buontempo said that money “saved” from the government’s decision to postpone next year’s local council elections will result in increased funds for local councils.

He argued that money which would have otherwise been used for the 2017 local council elections will be passed on to local councils to better manage their localities.

Amendments to the Local Councils Act, approved by parliament, increased the term of local councils from four to five. The proposal had been strongly criticised by the opposition as anti-democratic.

Buontempo also said that it was all local councillors’ duty to make a difference in people’s lives, and not just when local council elections are round the corner. “If someone comes forward with a complaint, it is the councillor’s duty to listen to what citizens have to say, all year round.”