Minister of State for Legal Affairs Elsworth Johnson said yesterday the government is in the process of dealing with the nonfunctional air conditioning system at the Magistrate's Court complex that has been a challenging issue for some time now.
"It's a perennial problem," Johnson said outside the Office of the Prime Minister.
"It's not a recent vintage, and I can tell you that the government has taken a serious look at it.
"I can tell you when we first went into the Office of the Attorney General, we met the very same state of affairs.
"So in relation to the obligation of the government to provide adequate facilities of the judiciary, that matter has been assessed and is being dealt with."
Staff and visitors have been subjected to sweltering conditions as the courts are still in operation, though they are not operating during their usual hours.
When asked for an estimated cost to fix the air conditioning and for a timeline for its completion, the minister said, "I cannot speak to that. I cannot comment on that, but cost is not an issue at this time.
"The administration of justice is fundamental to the stability of any constitutional democracy, and you can't put a cost factor on that. You just have to take care of that."
Johnson said the matter is of great importance.
"The magistracy represents a critical institution within the administration of justice because it deals with about 75 percent of the cases and the majority of which are poor people," he said.
"We must put in place or improve the work and plan of the magistracy, so they can do the work that they are called to do, and we're doing that."

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