Chief justice concerned over lack of funding for courts

Justice Janice Pereira  says lack of funding is hindering the works of the court
Justice Janice Pereira says lack of funding is having an adverse impact on the court

Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), Dame Janice Pereira, has lashed out at Heads of Governments of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) for their lack of financial support for the proper and smooth operations of the courts.

She was at the time delivering an address via simulcast in Anguilla to mark the opening of the 2014-2015 15 opening of the new law year on Wednesday.

“Considering the importance of the work of the courts to the economic well being of our countries, the amounts of money which are being allocated to the proper functioning of the justice system are in my view, woefully inadequate,” she stated. “The inadequate resources with which the court has had to function on a daily basis has adversely impacted our output.”

She stated that she shared the vision of many of her predecessors that one day an ideal arrangement will be attained, whereby, the dependency on the executive for the funding of the court will be translated into full fiscal autonomy consistent with the universally accepted concept of judicial independence.

“This achievement, no doubt, will go a long way towards us promoting and meeting the vision of the court,” she said.

Attorneys attending the opening ceremony of the new law year on Wednesday
Attorneys attending the opening ceremony of the new law year on Wednesday

She continued; “Until this vision is realized, to assist in alleviating this strain the court has had to resort to the use of counter measures, one of which is sourcing external funding to implement a number of initiatives which are needed to improve overall access to justice.”

Even this, she stated creates “its own share of uncertainties since the project funding is largely dependent on a number of external factors including the nature of the programs, the policies of donor agencies at the time of requests and the funds which are available for allocation to individual projects.”

“I assure you that the court has remained undaunted in carrying out its mission. Indeed, times of adversity, should be viewed as great opportunities for imagination and innovation. We have been striving to make the best use of the limited resources provided,” the chief justice said

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

11 Comments

  1. JoJo
    September 18, 2014

    That augurs well for the CCJ then, not so?

  2. Mem. of the new race
    September 18, 2014

    Allu finding fault with the oppressed and the robbed. Allu giving leeway to rich criminals to pursue justice to the poor. Allu hiding behind those u like to prevent them from seeing their faults and receive justice. Allu defending man that more thief than allu. Funding to do more wrong is against the present day system of equal rights and justice. Allu to stone age and slavish and mentally incapable of judging anyone wrong. Allu should fry away.

    • Mem. of the new race
      September 18, 2014

      Only when a man has money he gets his justice in Dominica. A broke conflict of interest court can’t find my favor. They are all wrong and biased.

      • September 19, 2014

        I agree with you she had to say something but their actions are what they will be judge by, ok she claim that funding the system is lacking but what about the Law itself does that give these Lawyers and Judges and Magistrates reason to brake the laws that suppose to protect us, She have a one sided view of what is wrong but it’s time they admit they are a part of the problem for goodness sake when will they be honest and admit that .

  3. george Fontaine
    September 18, 2014

    When the DBS asked the UWP people for data that would support their claim that the economy was on the brink…it appears that the judge gave one indicator which could add up to the data…While it is not stressed in this article, she said undoubtedly when there is a rise in violent crimes there is undeniably a drop in the economy…
    Data being a plural word cannot rely solely on statistics but also on other indicators such as cause and effect, the “belly” and the bank account…

  4. Efficatious
    September 18, 2014

    What on earth took you so long to demand some help in all angels.Those criminal on bail are the ones on the internet, Always against the law and the judges decisions. You can pick them up one by one when there is something against the police and the law. We need funds now to ensure the system runs smoothly. Talking about international Airport in ten years from now. We need help now

  5. Lion B
    September 18, 2014

    Dominica is still playing the Independent Role. To become self-reliant. I guess nature rules.
    Woe be unto the shepherds that leadeth my sheep astray. Every one I say everyone must get their pay. Money U want. Go an make it nuh.

  6. B Lion
    September 18, 2014

    Dominica is still playing the Independent Role. To become self-reliant. I guess nature rules.
    Woe be unto the shepherds that leadeth my sheep astray. Every one I say everyone must get their pay. Money U want. Go an make it nuh.

  7. Lang Mama
    September 18, 2014

    Hey why not ask for donations from the drug dealers. I am sure the drug dealers who have a lot of disposable cash would like to donate to the court.
    After all what about the lawers selling passports – all you to aviege give back something nuh to the court so that the court offices in Dominica have toilet paper.
    What about lawyers angling slush funds for politicians ? Give the court something nuh.

  8. Anonymous
    September 18, 2014

    Perhaps there should be an arrangement whereby a portion of the fines levied by the courts go toward funding the operations of the courts. That could raise some conflict of interest issues, but at least that would get the discussion started.

  9. Producer
    September 18, 2014

    Chief Justice? that title is misleading, deceptive, ambiguous to the fullest. How can there be a chief justice when there’s no justice? 8-O

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available