Annual Report of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago 2012-2013 Annual Report 2012-2013 | Page 21

Introduction
Our people are the key to our success as an organisation.
The Judiciary remains committed to enabling its staff to
shape and bring to fruition the ideas that ensure it is always
on a progressive path towards fulfilling its mission and
realising its vision. It is understood that this requires a shift
in mindset from one where employees work in the organisation but are not engaged, to one where they identify with
the purpose, values and vision of the organisation. It is in
this context that the Judiciary sees a deep and extensive
need for the development of its human and organisational
capital, and has taken the necessary steps to make sure that
these needs are met. The steps include modernising governance and organisation structures and staffing systems;
implementing a training and development plan that
focuses of change, transformation and performance
improvement; and putting systems in place to support the
employee’s work and work-life balance.

Modernising Judiciary Governance,
Organisational Structure and Staffing
The Judiciary continued with its initiative to review and
strengthen its structures and systems for governance. This
initiative commenced in 2012 in light of the fact that in
order to meet the mandates of the organisation and the
needs of those that it serves, the system by which the
Judiciary is directed and controlled must be aligned with
said mandates and needs. The critical areas of the
Judiciary’s governance system that is currently being
addressed are those interfaces between the Judiciary and
the Executive that have impacted on the organisation’s
ability to successfully achieve its mandate. These include
the human resource management and financial management functions in the organisation, among others.
In this regard, during the period under review, discussions
continued with the Ministry of Public Administration to
create and implement a model for its human resource
function that is in line with the current and future needs of
the organisation. The discourse included an examination of
critical weaknesses in the Judicial system, with a view and
rationale for reviewing and improving those aspects of

governance that are crucial to the organisation’s success but
for which there is little direct control by the institution in
the decision-making process.
Focus was also placed on the challenges faced by the
Judiciary regarding its ability to successfully oversee and
control its human resource function to ensure close
alignment between the philosophy, goals, objectives,
policies, practices and procedures of public sector human
resource management on the one hand, and the organisation on the other.
Over the last two decades, the Judiciary has been under
pressure from stakeholders both within and outside the
institution to effect major changes in the way the
organisation’s business is conducted so that the
timeframes within which cases are generally disposed can
be decreased. Similar calls have been made for all justice
system actors, regionally and internationally. The critical
issue for the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, however, is
how well poised it is as an institution to manage and
achieve the justice standards of access, timeliness, equality,
fairness and integrity with the level of success that its
mandate, its customers and stakeholders, as well as the
State’s international obligations, demand, presently and in
the future. This issue speaks directly to the Judiciary’s level
of human and organisational readiness to meet these
challenges.

There is a well documented chain of reports and studies
that goes as far back as 1852 in which the case has been
made for the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago to be given
greater autonomy in its administrative decision-making
and for the management of its resources, as key strategic
enablers for the organisation. This need has been borne out
by the number of reform initiatives of the Judiciary over the
years, which has had to face the challenges of an evolving
Trinidad and Tobago and the attendant demands on the
Ins titution. Reform of the Civil Justice System, establishment of a Department of Court Administration (DCA) and
a Trinidad and Tobago Judicial Education Institute (TTJEI),
and development of a Family Court, are among some of the
transformation efforts that were implemented. Their full
development and impact were stymied however, because of
many constraints. For instance, in order to be effective the
systems resulting from the reforms would need more
competitive and timely terms and conditions for contracted
officers; a reduction in the number of external agencies for
which review, comments and recommendations must be
sought prior to approaching Cabinet for approvals; a
modern human resource management information system
with the flexibility for managing all aspects of the human
and organisational capital; more consistent, clear, and
modern policies on public sector human resource management, including compensation and performance management, and control over the assignment and re-assignment
of Public Service staff.

The organisation’s experience has shown that its administrative systems for managing its performance are heavily
intertwined with a range of policies, rules, and directives
for financial, human resource, and information and
communication technology management, all of which have
been developed to provide accountability in the public
sector as a whole, but for which policy implementation and
administration do not currently permit the Judiciary’s
mandate to be recognised and accepted by the public sector
as a special case. This approach has adversely impacted the
Judiciary’s ability to develop and implement effective
measures to successfully fulfil its mission.

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Reshaping the

Judiciary Identity