Attorney General Francine Baron-Royer has placed support behind a proposal to establish a trust fund to govern the administration of courts in Dominica and other countries under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC).
Baron-Royer, who addressed a ceremony to mark the opening of the new law year on Monday, said that this trust fund would allow the courts to become financially independent, as opposed to being government-funded. This, she believes, would also allow them to also gain judicial independence.
The proposal was made in a report by consultants to the Eastern Caribbean Heads of Government (ECSC) heads of government.
“It is desirable therefore for a new system to be developed where the court can be responsible for its own court staff outside of the public service system,” the AG said.
“The way forward would seem to be for the court to be able to fund itself and its operations. The consultants have stated that the returns from a trust fund would enable the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to finance the operating costs of its existing and future expanded operations,” Baron-Royer stated.
The AG said that though the report revealed that the current system was ‘working reasonably’ well throughout the ECSC courts, it also noted that there were several challenges in relation to staffing, space, equipment and facilities along with the trouble of retaining trained staff.
She is convinced that all these issues will be remedied under the trust fund system.
The fund, according to her, would also support the creation of a security service for magistrates and other judicial officers, providing them with ongoing court and residential security coverage.
Baron-Royer noted that such a fund would cost approximately US $703.5 million and would have to be financed by the nine member territories in ECSC.
“We publicly give our support to it,” she stated.
Well, nou fini bat! $703 million US dollars to be shared by 9 territories? That is approximately US $75 million dollars per territory!! Where we getting de money? You people speak and shit from the same place. I have no problems with changes and development but at what cost! Every band that beat we jumping behind it. How does Dominica propose to be a part of this venture? How much did we pay consultants to feed us this bull? Why do educated people just present themselves as dummies? Our judicial system needs improvement in many ways and I would much rather the AG focus her attention on the smooth operation of the court system rather than the physical infrastructure and changing the management.
The proposal is for the court to have their own staff outside from Government. That means there will be someone heading the courts who needs a salary, benefits, retirement plan, gratuity and possibly pension. Then they have to get their own staff. So yes, we will create employment. We will now spend thousands to train staff. We will dump the experienced ones for green sticks. Then we also have to set up gratuity and pension for them. The courts will have their own vehicles, maintain their own buildings and be responsible for security and other important issues.
My question now is, who will regulate court fees? So now I smell a hike in court costs. Not to criminals but to ordinary citizens who need to register a piece of land or property. I do not think that moneys seized from criminals would be used to run the courts!! Oh no! So exactly how are the courts to generate the kind of money that is needed for their smooth operation?
And now, I wait.