Economic troubles impact courts, stifle growth prospects

If we are to be frank, a no-win, deadlocked, without-hope-situation in relation to what are said to be the needs of the Judiciary, as cited by Chief Justice Ivor Archie at last week’s opening of the law term, faces the country. Attorney General Reginald Amour’s subsequent response that the Government is planning to meet a few needs of the Judiciary, offer little hope.

Chief Justice Archie once again repeated the complaints of the inadequacy of the salary levels and other forms of benefits which are given to the judges and other officers of the courts, the difficulty in keeping judges from being enticed away by other possibilities, the conditions of work, including the overcrowded and extended work-load of the judges, the courts and more.

As is well known, in the circumstances, those who depend on justice in various forms from the courts are the major sufferers of the inadequate functioning and incapacity of the Judiciary and magistracy to perform. In such instances the well-known and often used aphorism of “Justice delayed is justice denied” impacts deeply the whole society, both the victims of crime and even those accused of crimes in jail waiting upwards of a decade for their matters to be heard and decided.

Regarding what Chief Justice Archie thinks are the inadequacies of the pay packages of judges and other court officers, the trade union representatives and tens of thousands of government workers continue to be in an even worse condition than the judges and other court employees.

Yes, it has to be recognised that those with professional qualifications and who are in critically vital positions in the structure of government and the operations of the functioning of the State, deserve their efforts to be recognised with adequate pay packages and conditions of work. But so too will those at lower levels of the bureaucracy believe that their salaries and other terms of employment leave them close to being on the breadline.

What is clearly not at issue here is ill-will and reluctance on the part of a Minister of Finance and the Government to grant the needs of the Judiciary, like all other institutions in the administration. The reality and bare facts of the matter are that the story is the same in other state agencies and all around the economy.

In yesterday’s Sunday’s Guardian, economist Dr Marlene Attzs made the point that in 2022, 56.4 per cent of the budget was spent on subsidies and transfers. That means that this percentage of the budget generally goes to assistance in one form or the other, without a direct return to the treasury or to annually provide the Government with revenue to allocate to critical institutions such as the Judiciary.

The logical conclusion is that if the state agencies, corporate T&T and individual taxpayers do not earn additional sums of revenue and that there are increases from non-traditional revenue bases, then there will continue to be shortfalls in the budget of the Judiciary and other institutions.

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