KINGSTON, Jamaica— Court proceedings across the island have been affected as prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) stage sit-ins in protest of better wages.

OBSERVER ONLINE sources have indicated that operations at the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court, and the Circuit Courts in St James, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and St Catherine have been affected as prosecutors called a meeting on Thursday to address concerns regarding their “welfare, well-being and the way forward”, the group said in a release signed ‘Concerned Prosecutors, ODPP’.

They added that a letter was sent via email in May, and a follow-up sent in July to Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke expressing their concerns and the need for a meeting, but they had not received a response up to the July 19 deadline.

The emails, the prosecutors said, also copied Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, Minister of Justice, Delroy Chuck, the permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Justice and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, KC.

“We wrote a letter to the powers that be, from May 2023, asking for a meeting,” a source disclosed to OBSERVER ONLINE. “The deadline was yesterday. We have been ignored. So we called a meeting today to discuss our well-being.”

The prosecutors said they have deemed the lack of a response as “utter disregard and disrespect to prosecutors”.

They added that they intend to continue their protest until they receive a response from the government.

– Rosalee Wood