Drafters in short supply

The child justice legislation developed two years ago has been delayed because of a shortage of drafters, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams has reported.

“We have a shortage of drafters. I know that the Prime Minister [Mia Amor Mottley] and the Attorney General [Dale Marshall] are looking and they are trying to recruit legislative drafters. They are one of the most specialized areas in law.

“Anybody can’t just pick up and go and draft a law, it is very specialised. We have contracted and we have been leaning very heavily on former Justice of Appeal Mr Sherman Moore and that department has honestly been out to the baller,” Abrahams told members of the media on Wednesday during a tour of the Renovation Project at Dodd’s St Philip

In another section of the media, child rights advocate Faith Marshall-Harris said she has been longing for the day when new child justice legislation developed since 2020 is passed in Parliament.

Marshall-Harris said that legislation seeks to bring child justice into a more modern era, including doing away with wandering as an offence to make it a treatable matter.

She said the legislation has not gone to Parliament because it is awaiting the companion piece, child protection legislation.

But commenting on the absence of the legislation, Minister Abrahams said, “We are trying to get other persons in to take some of the weight off and shoulder some of that burden. But you have the same people drafting all the laws and our legislative agenda is actually quite aggressive.

“A lot of laws have been passed and we are trying to review a lot more and to get Barbados as current as it can be with all of the legislative input to make us the model country and to have model legislation in as many areas as we can,” he added.

Abrahams said that even though legislative drafters are few and far between, the Government is aware of its priorities and has been pushing to have the child justice legislation drafted.

“The Attorney General has spoken with me on this. The Prime Minister has spoken about this in Cabinet and I know that the Government is all out trying to recruit more persons to do legislative drafting. Just give us a chance we have done a lot in a very short space of time,” Abrahams said.