The recent appointment of Leslie Haynes to the post of Chief Justice of Barbados has drawn attention to a problem successive governments have failed to solve – a burgeoning case load that continues to compromise the delivery of justice in a timely fashion in our court system.
The blogmaster is not appeased by talking heads that there has been improvement in the processing of criminal matters although work still has to be done to address the backlog in Civil court. In order to achieve timely delivering of justice it has to be delivered holistically.
It seems an unimaginative solution to attempt to solve the problem according to Attorney General Dale Marshall by throwing ‘bodies’ at it. What should be clear by now to keen observers of the Barbados courts is that more must be done to address structural challenges.
Mr. Errol Barrow [as he then was], advised citizens seeking justice to steer clear of Coleridge Street [then the location of the courts], it might have been taken by some as merely another example of the brash irreverence for which he was noted
Barbados Advocate
In 2017 retired Magistrate Carlisle Greaves while addressing a Rotary South meeting pointed to lawyers and policemen being big contributors to our inefficient court system. Can you imagine key officers of the court conspiring to compromise timely delivery of justice? There are repeated requests to reschedule cases, missing court dates, documents missing etc. The blogmaster is certain much of the delay is orchestrated. It must be Greaves who recommended establishing timelines to complete maters and dismissing cases if the time line is not met. It may seem a drastic measure to implement but how is it fair to citizens to have to wait for an unreasonably long time to receive justice. It is not uncommon for citizens to die while waiting to have matters heard in the Barbados court. This is an unconscionable betrayal by the state by failing to guard our inalienable right to receive timely delivery of justice.
All credit to Prime Minister Mottley for the global recognition she has been able to acquire and the extent it has redound to the benefit of Barbados. She and members of her team have been promoting Barbados as a good place for international companies and individuals to do business. After tourism, international business is reported to significantly contribute to our GDP and of recent hundreds of Welcome Stampers have been contributing as well. What happens if the reputations of our courts go abroad and international players domiciled in Barbados are unable to have contentious matters arbitrated timely by a moribund local court system?
Last week Attorney General Dale Marshall was quoted as making an embarrassing admission on the occasion of the passing of the baton from outgoing CJ Patterson Cheltenham to incoming Leslie Haynes.
The backlog, it is huge, but it is not beyond us. For my part, I have to say that we are seeing more and more cases being filed against the State alleging breach of constitutional rights on the basis that justice has been delayed. It’s an undeniable right and it’s also an undeniable truth.
We can’t keep paying compensation to litigants who make those claims, while at the same time funding the judicial system as it is needed. What we would expect is that the more we fund the judicial system, the fewer of those things we should get. I am sure that Chief Justice Haynes is up to the task.
The blogmaster although most of the time an optimistic sort remains sceptical the Barbados court will benefit from any leading edge, transformational changes under Haynes’ tenure. His body of work to date doesn’t recommend him for the task.
Up to now Attorney General Dale Marshall has lived a charmed political life. The blogmaster has no issue with Marshall, he seems a good enough chap but it is fair to say the under his tenure there has not been any significant forward movement in the law and order arena.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.