Dumas: Judiciary’s mess signals a decline in governance

This is the view of retired head of the Public Service Reginald Dumas as he weighed on the controversy.

Dumas said yesterday based on information that has come to light in recent days it appears that both Ayers-Caesar and Chief Justice Ivor Archie should take responsibility for the situation.

“I find the whole thing very unfortunate,” he said. “Mrs Ayers-Caesar is quoted as saying that she should have told the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) that she had matters outstanding and the Chief Justice has chastised her by saying that she did not manage her transition from the Magistracy to the High Court well.

“It looks as though she is taking the blame,” he said.

“My feeling is that there are faults on both sides.

“First if I am interviewing somebody for a job I am going to try and make sure that I have as much information as possible in front of me so that I can question the person particularly to what was at stake.

“I would want to see not only whether she had matters outstanding, I would certainly like to know about the matters that she has disposed of already, the judgements that she have given to see whether they have held up or whether they were challenged in the High Court or anywhere else, which means I will have all this detailed information in front of me before I prepare to meet with her.” Dumas said the fact that both Ayers- Caesar and the CJ have said that she did not tell the Commission about these matters and was at fault “is not good enough.” “All of this should have been in a file in front of each member of the JLSC so that they could have seen clearly what her record was, not merely whether there were cases left outstanding or not.” Dumas said in his mind Ayers- Caesar has damaged her reputation and credibility.

“Because a lot of people appearing before Mrs Ayers- Caesar will wonder whether they are going to get justice or not.

It is not that she is not capable of dispensing justice but they will say, “If this lady behaviour is so and she did not care about justice for people whose matters are still part-heard, who have been in many cases in jail for several years, why should she care about me?” he said.