There seems to be no immediate solution to the shortage of jurors which has been plaguing the local justice system for several years. Despite a recent amendment to the Jury Act for jurors to be selected from the Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) registry, lawyers practising in the criminal courts are not optimistic that it will solve the problem. Many weeks, cases scheduled for trial, especially those involving multiple accused, have to be put off because of insufficient jurors. The police serve hundreds of summonses each month but only a small percentage of persons served turn up.
Jury summonses are not yet being selected from the TRN registry list as checks last week revealed that jurors were still being chosen from the voters list. "In order to perfect a jury list from the TRN registry, it will definitely take some time because there has to be a sifting through of the names on the list" a member of the court staff explained. There are no checks presently to determine if persons who are summoned for jury duty have previous convictions and according to a policeman, if that was done, it would only reduce the number of persons who are available and willing to serve.
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