PRESIDENT of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nathan Robb is urging Custos of St James Ewen Corrodus to put measures in place to ease the workload of some of his members who serve as justices of the peace (JPs) in the parish.

“It has been brought to the attention of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce that, despite the large numbers of JPs, most of them are not available to offer their service to the public, who are unaware of the appointments or where they are located. So it is the same set of JPs providing that service day in day out, and so they are overburdened,” Robb explained.

“It is just not possible that we keep sending people to the same JPs, and several of them are now complaining that on any one day there are 60 to 70 persons coming to them.”

Robb told the Jamaica Observer West that the chamber has taken a decision to write to the custos urging him to address the matter.

“We will be asking the custos to make available to the public information as to where JPs are by way of posting at the major public visitation spots like the post office a full listing of their names, their telephone numbers, and where their seals are located during the working day,” he explained.

There are currently roughly 570 JPs serving the parish of St James.

Robb stressed however, that there have been a number of instances where appointed persons do not fully accept that the appointment is about service and not prestige.

“So there are persons who accept the appointment because of prestige and as such they are not willing to offer the service that the appointment requires,” said Robb.

“The landscape in Jamaica today requires so much certification and (so) if the JPs are not allowing themselves to be available to the public the whole system will grind to a halt.”