The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Bar Association has called for a clear, credible and time-bound plan to end persistent power disruptions affecting the courts, while Attorney General Wayne Munroe has insisted the Court Services Council must mitigate outages just as hospitals, prisons and businesses do.

The clash follows several days of power-related disruptions at court facilities in New Providence, with the Bar arguing that backup measures do not address the underlying electricity problem, and Mr Munroe maintaining that the Judiciary must find ways to continue operating during outages.

In a statement yesterday, the Bar said Mr Munroe’s response failed to explain what was being done to resolve the problem in the medium and long term.

“The Court is not ‘an organisation just like any other’,” the association said, “and concerns with respect to the operations of the Judiciary must not be trivialised.”

It said the courts are critical national infrastructure and that access to a consistent and reliable electricity supply is a matter of national and constitutional significance.

The association accepted that the Court Services Council should take reasonable steps to lessen the effects of outages, but said that was not the central issue.

“What remains in question,” it said, “is what the relevant authorities and utility providers, those actually responsible for delivering a stable and consistent supply of electricity, intend to do, and by when.”

The Bar said the public already knew about the country’s electricity problems and wanted solutions rather than further descriptions of them.

“We are looking for clearly articulated and credible solutions,” it said.

The association said Mr Munroe had an opportunity to explain what engagement was taking place among the responsible authorities, utility providers and the Judiciary and what concrete measures were being considered to prevent the disruptions from continuing.

“There was, in the circumstances, an opportunity to speak substantively to the Judiciary’s concerns,” the Bar said, “to convey what engagement is underway between the responsible authorities and the Bench, and to outline the concrete steps being taken to ensure that these conditions do not persist.”

“Regrettably,” it said, “that opportunity was not taken.”

Mr Munroe, however, defended his position yesterday and questioned what more the Court Services Council could reasonably be expected to do beyond mitigating the effects of power failures.

“I don’t know what else to say,” he told The Tribune, “because clearly the people at the hospital are mitigating, the people at the prison are mitigating, the business next to them are mitigating.”

“I wouldn’t think that anyone would think that the court services council could do anything other than mitigate,” he said.

Mr Munroe also pointed to other problems that have affected court buildings during his career, including plumbing and air-conditioning failures, and said the Judiciary had dealt with them and continued operating.

“Ansbacher House in the beginning, had issues,” he said. “The court fixed it and dealt with it.”

He said this was not the first time problems had affected the courts’ ability to sit.

“In every instance,” Mr Munroe said, “the court has manned up and fixed it and moved on.”

He said he had every confidence the Judiciary would do so again.

The Attorney General also questioned whether the Bar’s position amounted to saying the courts could not function unless Bahamas Power and Light provided a consistent electricity supply.

“Unless the president of the bar is saying, the court can’t possibly function unless BPL provides consistent electricity,” he said, “then that would be shocking and alarming.”

The Bar, however, maintained that its concern went beyond short-term contingency measures.

It called on the responsible authorities and utility providers to engage directly with the Judiciary and publicly produce a plan for addressing the underlying problem over both the medium and long term.

The association also renewed its call for full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, arguing that the Judiciary, lawyers and the public should not have to rely on public remarks and media reports for information about matters affecting the administration of justice.

“The Bench, the Bar, and the public should not have to rely on sound bites and news clips to obtain substantive information on matters of such public importance,” the association said.

“Transparency and accountability are minimum entitlements in a nation governed by the Rule of Law.”

The Bar sought to distance its criticism from a political dispute with Mr Munroe, saying its concern was the proper functioning of the courts, the protection of constitutional rights and confidence in the administration of justice.

“The Bahamas Bar Association has no interest in point-scoring,” it said, “and no appetite for a public exchange about the current sad state of affairs.”

The association said power was restored to the affected court facilities shortly after its initial statement, but maintained that the underlying issues remained unresolved.

“The fact that power was restored to the affected Court facilities shortly after our initial statement was issued may have been a happy coincidence,” it said. “The underlying issues, however, must still be addressed.”

The Bar urged Mr Munroe, the responsible ministers, utility providers and the Judiciary to move beyond public commentary and towards substantive engagement and concrete solutions.

“The Association stands ready to play its part,” it said, “constructively and in good faith, in achieving that outcome.”