Three years ago, a Supreme Court judge refused to work in a condemned building and remained home until the government provided her with suitable facilities to dispense justice.
Last month, Justice Anita Allen, who has since been promoted to Court of Appeal president, and her fellow justices were unable to hear cases because the court’s perennially leaking roof was finally under repair.
Vice President of the Bar Association Elsworth Johnson, asked, “How does this fit into the whole swift justice concept?
“This is almost a state of emergency. The institution responsible for settling disputes cannot hear them. We’ve had three prime ministers, all of whom were lawyers, and they had done little in improving access to justice.”
The Nassau Guardian has found the courts lose scant judicial time because agencies key to the administration of justice are severely underfunded.
Earlier this year, Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming blamed late arrivals of prisoners to court on malfunctioning prison buses. According to police and prison sources, officers have had to flag down public buses to transport inmates on more than one occasion.
When court starts late due to the late arrival of prisoners, the entire court’s schedule unravels, according to a judge.
Although the Magistrates Act states that the lower courts are supposed to start at 9:30 a.m, the prison bus usually arrives at the South Street Magistrates’ Court Complex well after 10 a.m.
The designers of the multimillion-dollar building, which is home to 12 courts, made no provision for the police prosecutors who lead evidence on behalf of the attorney general. The prosecutors often leave their Bank Lane offices for the complex shortly before 10 a.m.
The building itself has been rife with problems since its opening in January. Operations have ceased at the building on at least four occasions, either due to generator malfunctions or plumbing and air conditioning problems.
Support staff have complained that mold in the building is making them sick. According to a magistrate, court usually doesn’t begin at the complex until almost 11 a.m.
The magistrate said most cases ended in dismissals because the commissioner of police had failed to adequately staff the summons section of the Police Prosecutions Department.
The magistrate continued, “There just aren’t enough prosecutors, summons servers, people to execute warrants,” adding that police clerks should be in court to update the police system in real time. The prosecutor in Court 10 has not been replaced since his transfer to Urban Renewal in June.
The government last year refused to provide funds to update the books in the law library of the Court of Appeal.
The denial of the $50,000 request for this “vital resource” stands as a testament to how the administration of justice is hampered by under-funding.
Johnson believes that the judiciary should not be beholden to the executive and should control its own budget.
According to Johnson, the principle of the separation of powers could be jeopardized by the executive controlling the judiciary’s purse strings.
After the Magistrates Court in Eight Mile Rock was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Magistrate Debbye Ferguson and her staff worked in a building without electricity or phones and heard only emergency matters.
Almost two years later, the matter had not been resolved. At the opening of the Supreme Court legal year in 2007, Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall said, “Last year, I added that the October 2005 hurricane had virtually destroyed the building and I noted the dedication of Ms. Debbye Ferguson and her staff in their continuing effort to provide service to that part of Grand Bahama.
“I am distressed to report that, not only have no improvements in that situation occurred, but the Department of Local Government has given the magistrate notice to vacate the premises.
“A fact, which is plain and obvious to us, but apparently not readily appreciated by the public generally or the bureaucratic machinery on which the legal system must rely, is that a court — at whatever level — is not merely the presiding judicial officer, whether judge, registrar or magistrate.
“The judicial officer must have adequate physical facilities in which to sit and from which to work when not presiding and must be supported by the necessary staff to arrange the flow of matters coming on for hearing, to file and record matters which are adjourned or completed, to collect and account for fines and fees, to respond to public queries and to ensure the security of the staff and members of the public.”
Artesia Davis
The Nassau Guardian
