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Chief Justice Bryan Sykes was addressing a press briefing Monday on the status of the courts.
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Chief Justice Bryan Sykes and Opposition Spokesperson on Justice Senator Donna Scott Mottley
By Racquel Porter
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes is acknowledging that maintenance of courts islandwide is a shared responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and the Court Administration Division (CAD).
His acknowledgement comes two months after Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck said the responsibility for maintenance resides with the CAD.
Mr. Chuck said the Division is well-resourced to improve the conditions of the courts.
Speaking at a press briefing Monday morning on the status of the courts, Justice Sykes made it clear that the issue does not warrant a blame game.
"It does not absolve us of the responsibility of maintaining the courts," he acknowledged, but said accuracy must be maintained in the way the situation is presented.
Citing reports by Professor Barry Chevannes and the Vision 2030 document which characterised courts as old, dilapidated and inadequate, Justice Sykes said any suggestion that the courts were previously well-maintained before the establishment of the CAD, and have since gone into the disrepair, is "simply inaccurate".
He said capital and expenditure fall under the Ministry of Justice.
The Court Administration Division, in the meantime, has spent more than 90 per cent of its allocation for maintenance for the current fiscal year.
"But when we have some 60 courthouses, there are some things that are going to be beyond us," he conceded.
Justice Sykes said the current budgetary allocation to the CAD to maintain the courts is inadequate.
Noting that the division's budget is not as extensive as that of the Justice Ministry, he suggested a remedy.
"One solution is to do what has been done in Guyana, for example, and in Kenya. And that is the judiciary prepares its budget and the allocation comes directly from parliament. It isn't mediated through any Ministry of Justice. And in Guyana, for example, I think is the only judiciary in the region where they buy their own land and build their own courts. In other words, they are in the business of buying and developing court infrastructure."
Justice Sykes wants the CAD to be given the capacity and human resources to do something similar.
Opposition Spokesperson on Justice Senator Donna Scott Mottley and other stakeholders have been calling for the government to immediately address the poor condition of the courts.
Senator Scott Mottley described as shameful the conditions under which both the staff and legal professionals must operate.
"Our courts are a pillar of democracy and the conditions that have been allowed to persist are an affront to justice. Again, I call on the government to treat this issue with the urgency that it deserves. I wish to make it clear that the opposition remains committed to supporting measures that will ensure a functioning and fair justice system for all Jamaicans, including a long-term infrastructure improvement plan," she said.
On October 2, clerks at the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court staged a two-day sickout to protest their unacceptable working conditions, including malfunctioning bathrooms, poor air quality, and pest infestation.
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