While in some circles the concept of the ‘Bahamianization’ of the judiciary is being advanced as a priority, the President of the Bahamas Bar Association Wayne Munroe reasoned against retaining a full complement of local judges.
He pointed out that some Bahamian judges have been conflicted because they either knew one or all of the parties involved.
“When you deal with jurisprudence, it is never very good to have a closed pond,” Mr. Munroe said. “Thinking of it in genetic terms, it is almost like if you introduce no new genetic material after a while, you have mutations. I don’t think that it is counterproductive to have foreign judges. The question is, the level of foreign judges you have and the reason you have them.”
But Mr. Munroe acknowledged that increasing numbers of Bahamian attorneys are becoming judges.
Currently, there are 19 Magistrates, three of whom are non-Bahamians.
In the Supreme Court, all but three of the eleven judges are Bahamians; John Lyons, Fazool Mohammed and Hugh Small.
There is, however, a lower complement of Bahamians in the Court of Appeal. Guyanese-born Justice Maurice Churaman is due to retire by the end of this year.
Mr. Munroe suggested the reason that ‘Bahamianizing’ the judiciary has taken so long, is largely due to the fact that no government has been committed to paying proper salaries for judges.
“You have a phenomenon where you have Bahamians in private practice – if you have a sufficiently sound mind where you would be qualified to be a judge – who are probably doing quite well in practice and no government of any political persuasion has ever been serious about increasing the judicial salaries to attract and keep these people,” he said.
“And then you have the court facilities -to use a very strong word – rundown and dilapidated. Why would I want to leave my nice office to go and work in something substandard?”
Mr. Munroe added that for quite some time there has also been the issuing of retaining trained staff.
“Why would I want to leave the comfort and convenience of having a secretary, who properly functions to go to the public service where just when you train a secretary, she can be subject to transfer and even if she excels, you cannot encourage her in the same way that you can encourage people in the private sector?” he questioned.
While the BBA President conceded that there are a certain amount of persons in private practice, who are public spirited and would make the sacrifice, he said there is not a sufficient number to fill the judiciary at all levels.
Grand Bahama attorney, Maurice Glinton offered a different perspective.
In fact, he recently pointed out that “governments after governments have ignored their responsibilities of seeing to it that the judiciary reflects the sovereignty and independence of The Bahamas.”
“It has been my experience that it seems easy enough for governments and the executive to import on to The Bahamas Supreme Court and Court of Appeal persons about whom we know nothing about,” he said during a recent town meeting.
“We have gotten to the point now where we put on to the Supreme Court persons who are not even qualified to be judges. They don’t meet the minimum qualifications. It means to the extent that these are foreign imports. They cannot ever reflect your values,” he added.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
