Published: November 12, 2026
FISH TOWN, River Gee County – River Gee County’s new circuit court building opened without a jurors’ room, offices for the county attorney or public defender, or a records room. The head of the county’s bar association called it “complete trash” at its dedication.
Cllr. Dennes Sokan, president of the River Gee Bar Association, spoke Nov. 9, 2026, at the dedication of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court Quick Impact Facility and the opening of the November Term of Court. She said River Gee keeps getting substandard judicial infrastructure while other counties get full court complexes.
“This is complete trash,” Sokan said. “Even a magisterial court in Montserrado County is better than this.”
The building has a small courtroom, three offices, three bathrooms and a front porch. Sokan said it has no jurors’ room, no offices for the county attorney, the public defender or the sheriff, and no properly equipped records room. She said judges, lawyers, jurors, court staff and the public must work in excessive heat and cramped space.
Sokan said River Gee’s residents have the same constitutional right to decent public institutions as people in other counties.
“We Geepo votes cannot make a person win a presidency, but we all have the same right to these judicial complexes you are constructing in other counties, like Lofa, Maryland, and others,” she said.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Yousuf D. Kaba said the building has limitations. He said it was built as a temporary quick impact facility, not the permanent judicial complex the county needs. He said Chief Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr. ordered the project after learning the court had operated from a rented private building for more than four years.
“There is no specific budget for this 15th Judicial Circuit Court Quick Impact Facility. But the Chief Justice saw the need to give the court its own shelter since it has been operating in a private building,” Kaba said.
Kaba said the judiciary has not dropped its plan for a permanent complex in River Gee and that construction is expected to begin soon. He gave no date or cost.
The ceremony also inducted Resident Circuit Judge Nelson B. Chineh, who will preside over the 15th Judicial Circuit Court.
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