KINGSTON, Jamaica – The United States Department of State 2015 report on human rights prac­tices says Jamaica’s Government is cor­rupt and lacks transparency.

The 2015 report, which has very sim­i­lar find­ings to the 2014 report, said although there are exist­ing laws, which pro­vide crim­i­nal penal­ties for cor­rupt offi­cials, the Government has failed to effec­tive­ly imple­ment the laws, result­ing in offi­cials some­times engag­ing in cor­rupt prac­tices with impuni­ty. To bol­ster its claim, the report stat­ed: “The gov­ern­ment con­tin­ued efforts to inter­dict and pros­e­cute offi­cials’ cor­rupt prac­tices and raise pub­lic aware­ness on cor­rup­tion. Media and civ­il soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions, how­ev­er, con­tin­ued to crit­i­cise the Director of Public Prosecution for being slow and at times reluc­tant to pros­e­cute cor­rup­tion cas­es.” For exam­ple, the DPP did not order an inves­ti­ga­tion of a for­mer may­or for nepo­tism in the award of pub­lic con­tracts until after a court, in December, ruled in favor of the Contractor General in decid­ing the DPP could pros­e­cute, the report said.
In September, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency arrest­ed and charged 10 offi­cials for pub­lic sec­tor cor­rup­tion and 22 police offi­cers for cor­rup­tion. During the same peri­od, courts reached 27 con­vic­tions, three acquit­tals and 14 dis­missals. Pending in the courts were 159 cor­rup­tion cas­es from 2008 to 2015.

In the 2014 report, the US also allud­ed to an Organisation of American States (OAS) report, which was crit­i­cal of Jamaica’s pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al agen­cies for their gen­er­al fail­ure to pros­e­cute cor­rup­tion cas­es, espe­cial­ly the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Read more here: http://Ja’s Government still cor­rupt, lacks trans­paren­cy — 2015 report

WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE CULTURE IN WHICH CRIME FLOURISHES IN JAMAICA CONSIDER WHAT WE HAVE BEEN HAMMERING HOME FOR YEARS, THESE ARE LAWYERS WHO ARE PRACTICING LAW WHILE THEIR CERTIFICATIONS ARE NOT RENEWED. IF THEY ARE NOT RENEWED THEY ARE NOT LAWYERS IN THE EYES OF THE LAW.

Delinquent Lawyers Threatened With Prosecution

The General Legal Council (GLC) has warned of pros­e­cu­tion for delin­quent attor­neys-at-law who have not renewed their prac­tis­ing certificates.

In a notice pub­lished in today’s Sunday Gleaner the GLC remind­ed attor­neys that those who have failed to renew their cer­tifi­cates do not have a right of audi­ence before the courts. Further, the GLC empha­sised that it was a crim­i­nal offence, accord­ing to the Legal Profession Act, for any per­son to act as an attor­ney in any mat­ter while not being duly qual­i­fied or enti­tled to act as an attor­ney-at-law. The GLC said it was in the process of com­pil­ing a list of delin­quent attor­neys, which will be post­ed on its web­site and dis­trib­uted to all courts across the island. The warn­ing comes as the coun­cil moves to increase renew­al fees on May 1. It is urg­ing attor­neys to, there­fore, move swift­ly to renew their cer­tifi­cates if they wish to avoid pay­ing the increased fees. http://​jamaica​glean​er​.com/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​/​n​e​w​s​/​2​0​1​6​0​4​1​7​/​d​e​l​i​n​q​u​e​n​t​-​l​a​w​y​e​r​s​-​t​h​r​e​a​t​e​n​e​d​-​p​r​o​s​e​c​u​t​ion