Get back to work

CHIEF JUSTICE Sat Sharma yesterday called on State attorneys to stop their protests, pick up their “coconut bats” and resume their “legal innings” in the courts from today. Last week, the Port-of-Spain High and Magistrates’ Courts were shut down for four days as State attorneys stayed away to protest Government’s inability to meet their requests for better wages.

Speaking with reporters during the tea break in the Senate on Tuesday, Attorney General John Jeremie said he was doing all he could to ensure that the attorneys’ concerns would be handled “expeditiously” and he understood that their concerns were longstanding. However, the AG declared that he could not condone their course of action nor tolerate any attempt to block his Ministry’s work or the course of justice in Trinidad and Tobago, especially at a time where there was heightened concern among the population about the levels of crime in the country. Jeremie added there was a certain level of bureaucracy which took place before the State attorneys’ request could be acceded to. “This thing (State attorneys’ concerns) was dealt with,” CJ Sharma said, and recalled that at the beginning of the current law term, he spoke extensively about the longstanding problems affecting State attorneys, comparing them to using “a coconut bat to play an innings at Lords.” The CJ said “if certain assurances have been given (by Jeremie),” the State attorneys should factor that into their thinking.

The protesting State attorneys, all members of the Association of Legal Officers (ALO), will meet today to assess the situation and determine if any further action is required to force Government to move faster to address their concerns. When State attorneys took similar action earlier this year, then AG Glenda Morean promised their concerns would be dealt with expeditiously. At that time, Prime Minister Patrick Manning described the attorneys’ actions as “one of the features of a Third World country.” Describing their concerns as “equally applicable to any other Government department,” Manning explained: “As we try to correct it, we cannot seek to correct one as opposed to the next. “The Government’s ap-proach is to try correct it right across the board. That is why there is a collective bargaining process. That is why it is a process to which we try to adhere.” The Prime Minister added that the matter was being dealt with by Public Administration and Infor-mation Minister, Dr Lenny Saith.