Bruce Golding may have had a change of heart about the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

Golding seems to have had a change of heart about CCJ

by Oscar Ramjeet


As Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar seems to move further away from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), her Jamaican counterpart, Bruce Golding, may have had a change of heart.

Golding issued a statement a few days ago clarifying his position about the regional court in response to criticism launched against him by the outgoing president of the Court, Michael da la Bastide on his stand against the CCJ. The Jamaican leader said that he never refused to join the court, but needed time to decide. His recent statement is in contrast to earlier comments he made about Jamaica setting up its own final court of appeal.

However, his last statement said that he will meet with opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller to discuss what move Jamaica should take as regards abolishing appeals to the Privy Council. Simpson Miller is all in favour of the regional court.

It is unfortunate that the Trinidad leader, who is a Caribbean trained attorney, is taking such a stand against the CCJ when her party, the UNC, under the leadership of Basdeo Panday, was in the forefront advocating the establishment of the regional court, and it is because of Panday's vigorous stand and upon his request the Court is headquartered in Port of Spain, and most of the technical and support staff are nationals of the twin island republic.

It is also ironic that Jamaica is distancing itself from the regional court when it was under the JLP administration the idea was conceived and its then attorney general Oswald Harding was island hopping with his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, the late Selwyn Richardson, lobbying regional governments to join the court.

It is important that these two large countries in the region join the Court and make full use of the modern facilities available in order to improve local jurisprudence, since so far only three jurisdictions, Guyana, Barbados and Belize, have abolished appeals to the Privy Council.

The Grenada prime minister, who is also a Caribbean trained attorney, has hinted that he will sooner or later initiate steps to join the court, but there is no word from his St Lucian counterpart. However, opposition leader, Kenny Anthony, is a strong advocate for the court, and with elections coming up before year end, there is some hope that Castries will come on board.

St Vincent and the Grenadines lost its referendum for the regional court, but the referendum was packed with other controversial issues, which no doubt was the reason why it failed.

Now that Ralph Gonsalves is back in power for the third consecutive term, he might later down the road try to get the nod of the electorate.

I was reliably informed that the OECS attorneys general had a meeting recently and decided to recommend to their prime ministers for them to include referendum for the CCJ in their general elections. In other words, the electorates will not only vote for a (new) government, but will also decide whether or not to retain the Privy Council as the final court or adopt the Caribbean regional court.

March 26, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

More countries showing interest in joining the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

By Oscar Ramjeet:


It is more than four and a half years since the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was inaugurated and, so far, no other jurisdiction has joined Guyana and Barbados in accepting the CCJ as the final appellate court.

I read with great interest a statement made by St Lucia Oppositon leader, Kenny Anthony, calling for a region wide simultantous move to join the regional court.

He added that he does not believe that any government should go into amending their particular constitution to facilitate accesssion without securing the agreement of the opposition.

I wonder why when politicians are in the opposition they call on government to take action and when they are in power, they do not comply. Anthony was prime minister when the Court was inaugurated in April 2005. In fact he was present at the lavish ceremony in Port of Spain, and he was in government for 20 long months and he failed to set in motion for his country to remove the Privy Council as the final Court and replace it with the CCJ.

Now he is out of government, he wants co-operation between the government and opposition to join the regional court. This a good move on his part, but he should have done so when he was in government.

There are several factors why some countries are/were reluctant to join the regional court. Jamaica for instance, which was in the forefront in the establishment of the Court, lost interest. Former Attorney General Dr Oswald Harding, who is the current President of the Court of Appeal. who was the main advocate for the court in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said that, although Jamaica is contributing 27% towards the operation of the court, no Jamaican has been appointed as judge, although seven senior well qualified lawyers had applied for the position, and they were all by passed for persons who were less qualified.

He added also the former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson tried to railroad Jamaica's entry and failed to carry out the correct legal procedure to remove the Privy Council as the final Court, which was later struck down by the London-based final court.

The rejection by the electorate in St Vincent and the Grenadines of the November 25 referendum should not be used as a yardstick in the region to measure the thinking of the people whether or not to accept the CCJ as the final Court. I think there were other factors why that referendum failed.

Antigua and Barbuda Attorney General, Justin Simon, made the point that the results of the St Vincent rederendum should not deter other jurisdictions from seeking constitutional changes to accommodate the regional Court.

Belize will soon join the regional court. Jamaica has reconsidered its position and will soon put the mechanism in place to do so and a few OECS states including Grenada, Antigua, and St Lucia are also willing.

Trinidad and Tobago, which spearded the establishment of the Court along with Jamaica, will take some time before it comes on board. The reason being that it must first secure the approval of the Opposition, and Basdeo Panday's UNC is not interested... at least not for now.

Lets hope by the end of next year at least three other jurisdictions will be on board.

December 9, 2009

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International