The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Bar Association President Kahlil Parker chided the government on Wednesday for not demonstrating “any semblance of urgency or a plan” to remediate the “vexing” infrastructural challenges attorneys face in the various court buildings on a daily basis.

Mr Parker, speaking during a ceremony to mark the opening of the 2019 legal year, said his members have yet to see any “substantive engagement” from the government on dealing with the various infrastructural deficiencies, which he said has adversely affected services attorneys offer clients.

According to Mr Parker, litigants at times have had to be physically lifted up several flights of stairs due to the lack of disabled access to the Supreme Court facilities. In other instances, he said, court matters have been adjourned due to malfunctioning air conditioning systems.

The latter is particularly true in the Magistrate’s Court complex, with the Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt reporting that “much judicial time” was lost in New Providence and the Family Islands in 2018 due to “compromised air-conditioning systems”.

Mr Parker also noted that his members continuously observe judges and judicial staff contending with a “dislocated Supreme Court physical plant”, which requires files to be “trekked up and down the city of Nassau”.

Photo Gallery

The opening of the new Legal Year

(BIS Photos/Patrick Hanna)

“These are not new problems,” Mr Parker said. “These are not novel problems. However, we have yet to see substantive engagement from the government demonstrating any semblance of urgency or a plan to alleviate these vexing problems in the future.”

Mr Parker noted that because of those deficiencies, attorneys have had to “balance” their duties as lawyers to “ensure that our clients receive competent representation”.

“Along with the wider public, we have endured the status quo out of our shared commitment to the discharge of our duties as officers of the Court,” Mr Parker said. “However, there comes a time when tolerating and enduring, becomes enabling.

“The Bahamian people, and visitors to our shores alike, deserve an improved level of service. There is no substitute for investing the necessary resources required for the delivery of world class legal services in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.”

Attorney General Carl Bethel, in his remarks, stated that the government is cognizant of the judiciary’s infrastructural needs, and the Minnis administration has consequently entered into a loan programme with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), termed the Citizen Security and Justice Loan Programme, to enhance the delivery of justice.

He further noted that as part of the City Centre project, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has announced his government’s intention to erect a new Supreme Court building on the site of the former Post Office building on East Hill Street. He also said the government will soon start renovations on the Supreme Court building in Grand Bahama.

Mr Bethel also said the government intends to acquire additional facilities in the downtown area in Nassau to house the Civil Registry.

Mr Bethel also announced that the long awaited electronic bail management system is in its “final stages of implementation”. He said under the leadership of Justice Bernard Turner, the system will feature electronic filing in bail applications, even from the Bahamas Department of Correctional (BDCS); and will allow accused persons on bail to fulfill their reporting requirements by way of facial and biometric scans at bail management kiosks that will be stationed at police stations in New Providence and eventually Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Mr Bethel also said that the electronic bail management system, asides from reducing errors and false reporting, will also provide timely alerts when there has been any violation of the court reporting requirements.

Mr Bethel also announced that in the first quarter of this year, the government plans to implement a scheduling application in the courts called Curia Court Management Suite (CURIA), which he said has been reviewed by both the judiciary and his office, and is used by many courts in the Caribbean.

He also announced that a consultancy is currently being developed to examine the feasibility of an integrated management system for case management. He said the consultancy will advise on the interrogation of various systems concerning case management, bail, jury selection and “other fundamental aspects of the judicial system”.