He told The Bahama Journal recently that the revival of the commission after meeting just three years ago is due to the fact that it was unable to review the salaries, terms and conditions of magistrates and public legal officers.
Mr. McWeeney, who has agreed to chair the commission for the second time, said the terms of reference of the Judicial Pension and Remuneration Act will most likely have to be expanded to enable the commission to examine the salaries, terms and conditions of magistrates and lawyers in the AG’s office.
“The Attorney General is very well aware of the issue,” he said. “If an amendment is necessary, and I’m not saying that it is, but I think that there is a very compelling argument that it is, it’s something that could be processed through parliament very quickly. It need not be contentious,” he added.
The first Judicial Review Commission was appointed in November 2000 and presented its report in December 2000. That report only made provisions for salary increases and better terms and conditions for Justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
“The then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham had indicated that he would have liked a Commission to deal with magistrates and lawyers in the public service, but because there was such a pressing need to deal with the terms and conditions of services of judges, it was decided at that time that that would have to be deferred to some later stage,” Mr. McWeeney explained.
The mandate of the Commission has been extended to also review the salary, terms and conditions of the President and Vice President of the Industrial Tribunal and the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
Mr. McWeeney pointed out there has been a number of other issues that have arisen since the former commission last met, including matters related to housing.
“The question of housing is in relation to non-resident Justices of Appeal and at the Supreme Court level. There’s the question of securing that there is fair and equitable treatment of judges coming from the outside who do not have necessarily some pre-established place of residence in the Bahamas,” Mr. McWeeney said.
“I think those differences have largely been eliminated in recent years, but there are still one or two outstanding issues that do affect the housing conditions of judges,” he added.
According to Attorney General Alfred Sears, once appointed, the commission will be mandated to report within three months. This would enable any recommendations to be taken into consideration in the 2004/2005 budget.
“I have met with the magistrates and have heard their complaints about their physical structure and terms and conditions of their appointment,” Minister Sears said.
Minister Sears acknowledged that anomalies exist with respect to the salaries of resident and non-resident judges of the Court of Appeal. He added that the government is aware of the “vexing issue” of housing for Supreme Court Judges.
Mr. McWeeney said the Attorney General is still in the process of consulting other potential members of the commission, including senior members of the Bar, bankers and accountants.
“I think there is still the intention to ensure that the commission represents a healthy cross section of the community,” Mr. McWeeney said.
Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
