Chief Justice Bryan Sykes used Monday’s swearing-in ceremony of judicial officers at King’s House in St Andrew to lash out at what he described as persisting inefficiencies hampering the proper delivery of justice in Jamaica.

A militant Sykes said if he was allowed to be politically incorrect, there are no courts in Jamaica that Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck or his Permanent Secretary Grace Ann Stewart McFarlane would agree to work from, save the Court of Appeal building in downtown Kingston.

“Other than the Court of Appeal in its current state, refurbished and so on, I can’t think of any other court in Jamaica where the minister and the permanent secretary would readily occupy. I don’t know if you can think of any, but I can’t think of any. I have no difficulty with them being in the surroundings they are in but there is the biblical principle of do unto others as you would like done unto you,” Skyes said.

He encouraged the powers that be to spare a thought for the island’s judges who work and serve in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Sykes also pointed to what he deemed the tremendous work being done at the Traffic Court in Kingston despite a mountain of challenges.

“This is a tribute to the judges at the Traffic Court and other judges who have gone there in the evening, working up until 8:00 or 9:00 o’clock at night, working on weekends to address the backlog of cases there so that we can say that the Traffic Court, for the first time that anyone can remember, will become a backlog-free court,” declared Sykes.

He added that with all the challenges, it was remarkable that the judges and staff at the Traffic Court have accomplished all that they have, given the poor accommodations, and pointed out that an expansion plan at the court building on South Camp Road in Kingston had to be placed on hold.

“There was supposed to be the commencement of a new structure and they are to build up, but we found out in 2025 that the work that was already done cannot support a second storey so that is not going to happen anytime soon,” he said.

According to the chief justice, he had to speak about the problems because even as judicial officers and court staff decide to work in less-than-desirable working conditions, there is usually no attempt at remedying the problem.

“Whenever the judiciary accommodates and takes facilities that are less than adequate, it has a strong and distinguished track record of becoming permanent, so you look at the Family Court in western Jamaica that was supposed to be a temporary accommodation and the persons who join the staff just out of high school have now reached retirement age and the court is still on a plaza.

“It is the same thing that has happened to the Traffic Court, and the same thing that has happened to the Family Court on Duke Street where there are less-than-ideal circumstances,” Sykes argued.

He said that many of the problems facing the judiciary could be remedied if it received greater control over its capital budget.

Sykes told the ceremony that he’d been invited to a meeting a few years ago and was told that there would be changes to the way budgets are prepared. He said he left that meeting with the understanding that the ministry would no longer be preparing the budget for entities involved in service delivery.

“The entities involved in service delivery would create their own budget and they have to produce the procurement plan and the operational plan, the budget, and so it would go up into the ministry,” he said, the asked: “How do we have a situation in which the ministry still controls a significant aspect of our budget?”

“It also affects us in another way: The provision of electricity for the courts. We wish to have solar and a generator. The ministry is of the view that we have solar, so we don’t need a generator, but let us look at what happened in Montego Bay with Hurricane Melissa. There is solar and there is a generator. Some of the solar panels were damaged by debris flying around in high winds. What would have happened there if we did not have the generator? That was how the court was able to be up and running in a short time. The senior judge there was doing all of that while she was without a roof. Congratulations to her,” he said.

“We are not immune from the worst effect of the hurricane, but the staff and the judges turned out — dedication to duty — and for that they should be recognised and congratulated,” Sykes added.

He said notwithstanding all the troubles, parish courts continue to deliver outstanding service, even though the time standard has been reduced.

The chief justice highlighted that the net backlog in parish courts was under three per cent and even in the face of inadequate courtrooms and the impact of the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which devastated many parts of Jamaica on October 28 last year, there were positives.

“They have continued to perform well, so too the Court of Appeal which has continued its work of excellence, delivering 56 judgments for every 10 judgments reserved, and so it is one of the better-performing courts of appeal within the region,” Sykes said.

“With the Supreme Court, we are engaging in some structural changes there with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance. We are changing the structure of registries, particularly the civil registry, and the masters here are going to be playing a critical role in that. We are changing the structure to facilitate the development of a docket system where the judges, masters, and the staff will be assigned in teams.

“They will have a stock of cases they are responsible for from the time it is assigned to that particular team until it is disposed of, unless there is some other reason for it not to remain there,” said Sykes.

Monday’s swearing-in ceremony saw Justices Lorna Shelly Williams and Caroline Tie Powell promoted to act as judges of the Court of Appeal; chief parish court judge in Kingston and St Andrew Chester Crooks along with judge Kamar Henry Anderson were promoted to act as puisne judges in the Supreme Court; while two officers of the courts who have served as parish judges, Christine McNiel and Yvette Miller, were appointed acting masters-in-chamber. The tenure of each of the acting positions is from January to March 27, 2026.