Editorial
Stabroek News
July 7, 2001

The Whaul case raised questions about our judicial system that go beyond the usual issues of competence and speed of delivery. The discussions concerning it in the letter columns of this paper, initiated by Mr Mc Kay's letter, indicates that it has touched a nerve in our readers. One reason for this may be that this case goes beyond the normal concerns of competence to the roots of our system of justice.

The great Bhagwati, when Chief Justice of India was asked to describe the three most important attributes required of a judge. He answered "love of justice, love of justice and love of justice".

This bears on the efforts by President Jagdeo to obtain financial and technical help from the sympathetic governments of developed countries to improve the justice system. All the discussions in the world with Baroness Scotland and all the technical and financial assistance that may elicit will not help to produce an acceptable justice system in Guyana unless those in charge of it are moved by `a love of justice'.

As the judgments of Chief Justice Bhagwati have shown, a love of justice not only involves, it requires, a determination to protect the small citizen in his or her dealings with the powerful and the influential, whether the power and influence be that of the state, of a large corporation or of a "big one', as the man in the street says.

Another case which has been brought to the notice of this paper also indicates that there may be something fundamentally flawed about our justice system. It involves a property being sold by order of the court without the consent or even the participation of the appointed receiver of a deceased person's estate.

What is wrong? Will the newly appointed heads of our justice system indicate some concern about these matters? Or will ordinary Guyanese citizens have to have recourse to regional and international bodies to obtain simple justice in ordinary cases?