Sykes calls for business community to help relocate St James Parish Court
Published:Monday | December 4, 2023 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has called for the St James business community to play a more substantial role in the delivery of justice by helping to provide suitable and affordable lands on which the government can build a proper court complex.
In calling for the business leaders to aid the development and physical appearance of the courthouses, Sykes argued that the St James Bay Parish Court has not only outgrown the space it is now operating from, but it sits in a flood zone.
“We need to resolve the issue in Montego Bay of having a site to construct a proper courthouse worthy of the city of Montego Bay,” Sykes pleaded with members of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The chief justice issued that clarion call on Saturday, as he delivered the main address at the Chamber’s annual awards banquet where it celebrated business excellence at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
“It can’t be that, in the 21st century, the parish court for St James, which is one of the most productive courts in Jamaica, one of the largest courts, but one of the most productive courts, constantly finishing among the top-four courts in Jamaica and it is located, essentially on flood-prone property,” the country’s chief jurist argued.
His appeal for a new court complex is again been made against the myriad of challenges, being faced in terms of courtroom space, parking spaces, along with the prolonged issue of constant flooding.
“Everytime there is a heavy downpour of rain and the water comes down in the (North Gully) beside the court, it overflows into the courtyard. And that has been going on for well over 30 years, some say as long as 50 years,” Sykes stated.
The Family Court, he noted is being housed on a commercial plaza, an arrangement that should only be temporarily has gone over 30 years is also not appropriate and is no longer convenient to facilitate the business of that court.
“The 18 and 19-year-olds who were employed in the court then have now reached retirement age and, they are still on the plaza,” the chief justice revealled.
The Western Division of the Gun Court, which is located in Montego Bay, also shares the same building of the parish court and is the first to be impacted when the courtyard yard is flooded, as it’s on the lower level of that Megree Bay Road building.
This also, Sykes said, is untenable. He urged the leadership of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce to engage their political representatives and make enquiries on when these working conditions are going to be resolved.
“The Gun Court needs a separate building and so does the Western Registry,” he added.
The Western Registry of the Supreme Court is now located on the National Housing Trust building on Union Street in Montego Bay.
“What is necessary then, is for the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce to begin to ask these questions about the construction of the court complex to have proper courts where our citizens can come and do business in a dignified way,” he explained.
In 2019, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck told The Gleaner that the money to build the new court complex in Montego Bay has already been secured and that the only drawback the ministry of justice was facing at that time was the search to identify a suitable location.
He had also revealled that in the search for suitable land, investors were asking for too much, noting that within the private sector a four-acre property which is ideal was asking for US$2 million per acre, a price Chuck had argued as being pricey and out of contention.