Overhaul Mandeville courthouse urgently
Published:Saturday | July 14, 2012 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I feel compelled to comment on the recent discussions to make the central Manchester town of Mandeville a university town, which would include an information technology and knowledge-based hub akin to Silicon Valley in California, United States.
In developing Mandeville as a university town, a natural accompaniment would be a bourgeoning of the human population. If we are to encourage investors, it is critical to have a good justice facility in place and, by extension, a proper courthouse. Investors will not be encouraged to open business, nor students to attend university, if proper infrastructure is not put in place where they can seek and procure justice.
I would like to highlight the deplorable condition of the Mandeville courthouse. The Mandeville courthouse was built in 1817 and, because of lack of maintenance over the years, it has deteriorated considerably. Furthermore, the volume of people utilising the courthouse daily has multiplied significantly over the years. If one should visit the courthouse on a regular court day, one would see persons outside in the sun or rain waiting for their matters to be heard.
The situation is even worse on the inside, where the people pack in like canned sardines in the aisle, and one has constantly to "beg pardon" and squeeze against other persons to enter the courtroom. The table allocated for lawyers, which is also shared by some police officers, is small and obviously inadequate.
On several occasions, too, I and other lawyers could not find even one chair to sit on. As such, we have to stand inside the packed courtroom or on the outside to wait till our cases are called up.
I recall many years ago hearing that there were plans to relocate the courthouse to Kingsland. However, nothing has been seen of that move. In my opinion, no plan to develop the town of Mandeville as a first-class town and university centre can be achieved without providing a proper courthouse for the people to seek justice.
We, the people, are still 'banking' on Peter Bunting, the minister of national security and member of parliament for the Central Manchester constituency, to give attention to this pressing matter and to intervene on our humble behalf.
We, the people, deserve no less from this very visible politician, on his second round as our representative!
CLAUDINE BLAKE
Attorney-at-law
Mandeville, Manchester