THE EDITOR, Sir:I OFFER my congratulations on the recent appointment made of Mr. Justice Raymund King to the Supreme Court and Mrs. Justice Zaila McCalla to act as Court of Appeal Judge. Mrs. McCalla's appointment fulfills the tradition which was started by Miss Madge Morgan who has recently passed on.
The Supreme Court Bench is now strengthened with the recent new appointments which were made.
I must congratulate The Honourable Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe for the tremendous work which he has put in, in respect of the operation of the work by the Supreme Court. And with the new appointments of Judges of the Supreme Court, I think his hand will be strengthened in running the day to day affairs, and keeping a constant look out for the persons who try to undermine the administration.
Some officers are not clear of their particular functions and very often different dates are given for the same case. In addition misplacing of documents causes great confusion, chaos and consternation to attorneys, litigants and judges.
The result of the aforementioned would indicate that the Head of the Supreme Court, should be given power to correct the confusion, whether caused deliberately or through incompetence or sheer dishonesty. As it stands now, there is very little that the Chief Justice can do.
In respect of the Court of Appeal, I must congratulate the president and all the Judges for the tremendous work they do in very difficult circumstances.
MISSING FILES
I am very happy to say that we do not experience the difficulty of missing files as is so prevalent in the Supreme Court.
The Director of Public Prosecution's Department has had its fair share of problems. His department functions under extremely difficult circumstances also.
We must not forget the Family Court at 74B King Street, Kingston. They are doing a marvellous job through the efforts of Mrs. Irvine, Mr. Cheddar and the clerk of courts, and each and every member of staff there. The work that they do affects the lives of many young Jamaicans and senior citizens also.
Some of the problems in respect of all the departments mentioned may be corrected by prompt action. I recommend that practising attorneys before all these courts make recommendations not only to the Advocates Association and the Bar Council, but they should let their voices be heard through the media as well.
We are aware of the fact that many attorneys are not members of either association.
A very compounding problem is THE HUMAN WRONGS AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS; whenever some persons are exposed great pain is taken to water down their activity in respect of wrongdoings. Time and again we hear talk of tainted money but rarely do we ever hear of bloody hands. Could it be that some of those HUMAN WRONGS AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS are blind, deaf and dumb, thus giving their silent or active support of killing innocent persons?
Murder has increased over the years, and extortionists have now darkened the crime scene.
There are persons who are respectable, wearing their jacket and tie and received in high places; they seem to be even more deadly than the drug smugglers.
I am, etc.,
ALONZO D. MANNING
Attorney-at-Law
