Cabinet to Consider Putting Position of Custos into Law
Friday, February 26, 2010
Jamaica Information Service
Courtesy of Jamaica Information Service
Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that the Cabinet Submission on enshrining the position of Custos Rotulorum into law has been sent to Cabinet by the Ministry of Justice.
The Prime Minister was giving an update to a large gathering of Justices of the Peace (JPs) for Kingston during the swearing in ceremony for the Custos of Kingston, Steadman Fuller, on February 26.
"I do not subscribe to the view that the role of Custos and position of Custos belongs to a past that we need to graduate ourselves from.. We have adapted it and we have shaped it and transformed it to be an instrument of development in our own philosophy."
Courtesy of Jamaica Information Service
The Prime Minister noted that successive governments have molded the role of the Governor General to be more than ceremonial and that Custodees are also providing leadership that should be given more legal recognition.
"...There are some levels of executive activity where we feel that the Custodees need to step forward and be clothed with some responsibility and be given authority to ensure that matters are handled in a way that transcends partisan politics..They provide leadership and support to civil society, to things that strengthen communities and assistance to those who are merely on the periphery. There are many good causes that have been taken on and given support and strength and given legitimacy by Custodees, very often acting on their own initiative. It is something that we want to encourage them to do."
Last year Mr. Golding informed JP's in Hanover that the role had remained integral to life in parishes and that he intended to have it enshrined in law.
