How many times have we, the public at
large, had to deal with government agencies executing willy nilly
“too much red tape to humbug progress”?

All the time.

And now our Lord Chief Justice,Anthony
Smellie, has encountered it and uttered the exact statement I have
used in my Editorial title - “too much red tape to humbug
progress”.

The Chief Justice made the comment
today (Wed Jan 16) in his REPORT TO THE OPENING OF THE COURTS. This
is what he said:

“At the opening last year, it was
with a measure of relief that I announced the acquisition of the
Scotia Bank building by Government for the use of the Courts.

“Based on assurances which were
given, I also announced that by mid- year, we would have commissioned
two more long overdue courtrooms in that building, to be dedicated to
criminal trials, one of which would serve as the base for the Court
of Appeal when in session.

“The clear stated priority was to
tackle the backlog of criminal indictments.

“Despite the fact that this courtroom
project would involve simply the reconfiguring and fitting out of
internal space within the building, I am obliged to report this has
not yet been achieved. In the meantime the Building has been
partially occupied to relieve the space shortage for administrative
staff, some members of the judiciary, and as facilities for mediation
and training of staff.

The fact of the matter is that the
Judicial Administration may not undertake the courtroom project
without the permission of the Planning

“Department, and input of Public
Works and Lands and Survey who hold title to all Government
buildings. We therefore call upon our colleagues from these other
agencies to recognize the urgent need for these courtrooms and not to
allow too much red tape to humbug progress. As I will come to
explain, we now have the largest number of indictments ever awaiting
trial.

“As was the position last year, the
judges are already rostered to tackle the backlog of indictments but
this effort cannot begin without the courtrooms being available. It
is of utmost urgency that these two court rooms are available no
later than May of this year. So far as the Administration can drive
this initiative, we will be engaging a project manager especially to
work with the other agencies to have these courtrooms installed by
May.

“As in past years, the chronic lack
of courtrooms continues to hamper the work of the Summary Courts also
and this problem, along with the unavailability of criminal defence
counsel, is the main focus of the Chief Magistrate’s Report. As in
past years, her Report will be published as an annex to mine.

“But here while we continue to
struggle with the lack of courtrooms, I wish to underscore the fact
the work of the Summary Courts is very much impacted by this
situation.”

Quite frankly, HEADS SHOULD ROLL!!!

Can you imagine if we had another
hurricane and this absolutely ridiculous and costly red tape was
allowed to occur where on earth would this country be?

IN ONE DAMNED AWFUL MESS!

So what are the Ministers in charge of
these ministries going to do about it?

President Trump said he was going to
“drain the swamp”. Isn't it time we shouted out the exact words
of Ebenezer Scrooge to all this government red tape, especially when
there is a crises, “BAH HUMBUG”!!!!?