The judicial branch of government is being neglected. Responsibility for this sad state of affairs must be laid on the doorsteps of the Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, Attorney General the Hon. Alfred Sears, and their colleagues in Cabinet.
While a part of the rationalisation about why things are the way they are because of budgetary constraints, our response is that this is excuse parading as explanation. The current administration would do itself a world of good if it were to slow down, eliminate the hype and get down to fixing those things that can be fixed. If money is part of the problem, that too can be fixed.
In the case of the judiciary and criminal justice system, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by this or any other administration, if high flying talk is not matched by appropriate action. In opposition, the PLP talked the talk, and tens of thousands of Bahamians listened. Now that they are the government, the talk should end. While they are at it, whatever is old and decrepit should be packed up and discarded. Under this rubric would be all of those outmoded plans, procedures and practices the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service used to speak about, as he held forth and pontificated under the fig tree on Bank Lane. One of his partisan sympathisers was the current Attorney General and Minister of Education, Alfred Sears.
Our view of the entire matter is that the current administration stands condemned for its continuing neglect and near contempt for the judicial branch of government, and the fine people who work in it. Something can and should be done about this matter, now and not later. No talk about ‘transformation,’ paradigm shift or thinking outside the box is needed to get this matter right. Incidentally, there is no need for another Commission. Everyone with an iota of sense knows what needs to be done to upgrade the judiciary in The Bahamas. It can be fixed, and should be fixed
Were we minded to cite chapter and verse regarding the perennial neglect of the judicial branch of government in The Bahamas, we could reference any number of instances of neglect and contempt. We could recite – as evidence – any number of reports on the conduct and state of the judiciary in The Bahamas, as depicted by Attorneys Alfred Sears and Frederick A. Mitchell, when they were en route to their current offices, as Ministers in a Cabinet headed by Mr. Christie. Both men cut their political teeth – as it were – on any number of exquisitely crafted and most learned discourses about the importance of the judiciary in a democracy.
On occasion, the discerning and attentive public was mightily impressed by the power of their logic and the equally passionate intensity of their stated love of the law. In a sense, all of this and more is today being distilled into a brew of disappointment, as Bahamians lament the continuing neglect of the judicial branch of government, by the Christie administration. The Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall and Bar Association president, Attorney Wayne Munroe are two of very many who say that the judicial branch of government has been and is being ill-served by the government of the day.
When the self-styled “New” Progressive Liberal Party was successful in its bid to wrest control of the government from the Free National Movement, its most ardent supporters were highly expectant about the difference that would be made by the new administration, particularly as regards ‘Help and Hope’ for the judicial branch of government.
In this regard, many of the nation’s more senior attorneys were convinced that Attorney General Sears would be aggressive in efforts to support the judiciary. These people also thought that the new Attorney General would be given the greatest support by Mr. Mitchell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service.
The reality today is that those who had expected much from the new PLP and its current Attorney General have been disappointed. Many of these people are troubled by what they see as gross neglect of the judicial branch of government, decay in the Attorney General’s office, and overall neglect of the systems put in place to deal with the administration of justice. Some of the complaints levelled at the current administration border on the pathetic. When a judge can complain, year in and year out, about grossly inadequate toilet facilities, everyone knows that there is something dreadfully wrong.
Editorial, The Bahama Jorunal
