VETERAN attorney-at-law Earl Witter was yesterday sworn in as Jamaica’s second public defender, to assume an office that could become more powerful if Government accedes to recommendations from Opposition Leader Bruce Golding and outgoing public defender Howard Hamilton.

But Witter indicated yesterday that his first order of business will be to deal with the issues already awaiting him at the office, and thereafter, new matters as they arise.

As it regards the recommendations, Witter said he hopes his views will be considered when the time comes.

“I will have something to say in the weeks ahead as it regards my own views as to the state of the present arrangement,” he told the Observer.

At the brief ceremony at King’s House yesterday, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding called for a Parliamentary review of the Public Defender’s Office to determine, among other things, how it has functioned in the six years since its inception, and whether the legal powers invested in the public defender are adequate.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, who served in that post for six years, yesterday told the Observer that the post should be reviewed. He said the public defender should, for example, be allowed to intervene in matters that were not necessarily considered constitutional violations, but which nonetheless violated human rights.

Hamilton explained that the main things that arise as constitutional violations are loss of life and loss of freedom.

Hamilton also called for the widening of the scope to allow for the public defender to still be able to continue in private practice, while carrying out the functions of the office, akin to the director of public prosecutions.

Hamilton said he would shortly be tabling his recommendation in Parliament during his 2005 report, for the section to be revised to enable a wider list of violations.

These recommendations were endorsed by Golding, who noted that they could form part of the Parliamentary review.

Yesterday, Justice Minister AJ Nicholson told the Observer that no recommendations would be ignored by government, and that there was a possibility that some changes could

be made.

“This administration has no intention of ignoring those recommendations when they have been fleshed out,” Nicholson said.

As for the Parliamentary review, Nicholson said if it were necessary then it would be done.