THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ with great interest the comments made by the Attorney-General, A. J. Nicholson, regarding Mrs. Lightbourne calling into question the integrity of one arm of the judiciary and the slur which he says this casts on the state of legal affairs, (Sunday Gleaner, May 11).
I found this all very interesting and would like to make a few comments about the "so called" legal system in this country. I say so called because it is evident to those who care to open their eyes and see that there is virtually no law based on integrity operating in Jamaica; if there were we would not live in a country where despite large sums of public money being spent on investigations, the status quo remains and the and the people cry out for justice. Our law enforcers have no qualms about shooting down the citizens of this nation knowing full well that although they are in breach of our constitution many of the "so called" powerful people in this nation support their actions whether through tacit consent or otherwise.
I have never once heard A. J. Nicholson state that this kind of lawlessness and abuse of position calls into question legal affairs in Jamaica. We none of us can afford to be selective about what we challenge and what we do not; wrongdoing is wrongdoing no matter who is doing it. The country is riddled with criminality, even lawyers are often revealed in the media as stealing their client's money particularly in relation to sale and purchase of property.
Other examples of lawlessness include employers who make deductions from staff salaries which they then fail to pay over to the relevant agencies, thus stealing from their staff and yet the staff members often have no redress. Unscrupulous property dealers are allowed to destroy the lives of our citizens and there is no authority to deal with them, citizens are at their mercy because the law does not work, unless you have money and big money because lawyers in this country charge fees which are probably the highest in the world.
I could go on and on citing the people's reality when it comes to law in Jamaica. Is it then any wonder that citizens have lost faith in this country's legal system and fear that the CCJ will not give them justice? Let us also recall that in the case of the Air Jamaica workers and their claim for money to which they were legally entitled, the government and our legal system dismissed their claim. It was the Privy Council which enabled them to get their legal rights and their money.
On a personal level, I have absolutely no confidence that I would get any justice from any structure in Jamaica and from travelling up and down and listening to the conversations on the bus, in the market and other places, this view is shared by many in this island. So Mr. Nicholson, there is a lot of urgent work to do in order to reassure Mrs. Lightbourne and others that one can indeed get justice in Jamaica.
I am, etc.,
NZINGHA ASSATA (Mrs)
Golden View Heights
Kitson Town P.A.
St. Catherine
