Vowing a “more militant approach to the issue, the President of The Bahamas Bar Association said he is disgusted with the deceptive way in which the government treats both Bahamian and foreign judges.
“I feel fairly disgusted. We attract Bahamian judges, giving them some impression of what they would encounter and then when they come and join us – even in the case of foreign judges – these things do not happen,” said Wayne Munroe as he referred to a litany of inadequacies that relate to the profession.
“And so what you have done is deceived a bunch of professionals. You make them believe that they are going to have proper court facilities and they don’t have them. You make them believe that they are going to have proper facilities to perform their vital tasks and they won’t have them. You lead them to believe that they are going to have salaries and benefits befitting their office and they don’t get it,” he said.
Attorney General, Alfred Sears recently announced the construction of new court facilities, adequate temporary facilities and the creation of new posts among the pending changes for the judicial system this fiscal year.
The announcement came only days after the government signed off on an almost $6 million contract for the construction of a new colonial style Magistrates and Supreme Court complex.
There have long been complaints about dilapidated facilities and working conditions.
In fact, during last year’s opening of the legal year, Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall pointed out that the Supreme Court complex might prove an embarrassment considering the beginning of a major commercial trial that included a large number of lawyers, including five from the English Bar.
“No judge would come on the Bench to be in a courtroom where there is water dripping from the ceiling, where the toilet overflows. In the heat of the summer, the air conditioning was out for a month in the Court of Appeal,” Mr. Munroe said.
“We don’t have proper access to legal materials. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that would not have been the bills of goods these judges were sold.”
Mr. Munroe said he is now prepared to exchange his reasoning tactic for a new approach to the issues, pointing out that if such deficiencies continue it could jeopardize retaining and recruiting competent judges.
“A promise is a comfort to a fool. After a while, people are going to get tired of it. We have been promised a new judicial complex for ages and they tell us they can’t afford it, but they go on spending more in rent than it takes to make a mortgage payment and that makes no sense. That’s just plain stupid,” Mr. Munroe said.
On Thursday, Minister Sears admitted that there is a need for the government to improve the salaries and terms and conditions of members of the legal fraternity.
He said this was the reason behind the appointment of the Judicial Review Commission.
“We are reviewing those recommendations and as soon as we have formulated them, we will forward them to Cabinet to get their approval to implement them and this is something that we have been pushing with tremendous zeal,” the Minister explained.
He said a soft opening of the Chief Justice’s rental facilities at the British American building was scheduled for today.
According to Minister Sears, the Attorney General’s Office has prepared a Cabinet paper seeking approval to locate land to build a judicial complex to house the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
He added that $50 million is being budgeted for that project.
The Minister is confident Cabinet will soon consider that proposal.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
