New judges ‘shortly’ – AG

The long-awaited appointment of new judges to handle a backlog of cases are to be made “shortly”., Attorney General Dale Marshall announced on Sunday.

He told the Barbados Association of Journalists and Media Professionals (BARJAM) that the chairman of the Judicial Appointments Committee Sir David Simmons has already indicated to him that that it had completed its work and would be putting forward a recommendation to the. Prime Minister in a matter of days.

But Marshall was tight-lipped on who were the judges being recommended, how many or where they were from.

But hinting that the appointments may come from outside Barbados and the region, Marshall said he was “very happy to see that we had a tremendous interest both locally and regionally”.

The Attorney General added: “I am not at liberty to tell you who will be recommended… Protocol must always be observed.

“For many years Barbadians served in high judicial office not just within the region but also the outer region of the Commonwealth – Ghana and other places – and I think it is important for us, as we try to recruit new judges in a transparent process, to reach out to the entire Commonwealth and try to bring back to Barbados the best minds that we can find so that we can grapple with the issues of the courts.”

Marshall had indicated that changes were on the cards for the judicial system including the appointments of up to five new judges, in order to assist the existing eight to ease the bottleneck of cases.

He had also indicated that it was Government’s intention to create more criminal courts and a new commercial law court.