Both the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Magistrates’ Court are seeking more staffers, according to the annual report on the deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee.
The report said Magistrates’ Court Manager Eunice Crawford asked for three additional positions: a court manager, an administrative officer and a court clerk. These additional positions are needed, Ms. Crawford said, because the magistracy is overburdened with work, with many staffers working long hours and weekends and skipping lunch breaks, according to the report.
That work includes typing handwritten notes from court proceedings, making nine copies of each transcribed document, and preparing exhibits, she explained.
The Office of the DPP told a similar story during the recent SFC deliberations. When Opposition Leader Ralph O’Neal asked DPP Wayne Rajbansie whether he had sufficient staff to carry out his work, he replied that he did not, according to the report.
Mr. Rajbansie said he hoped the number of positions in the ODPP would be increased after a review of the department was conducted, according to the report.
See the March 6, 2014 edition for full coverage.
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