by Oscar Ramjeet
Last Wednesday was three years since the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was inaugurated, and instead of countries initiating steps to join it seems as if there is less interest for member states to accept the CCJ as the final Court replacing the Privy Council.
The new government of Belize is not interested and the leader of the Opposition in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Arnhim Eustace, who had once indicated that he was in favour of the CCJ, now has a change of heart and has publicly announced last week that he will not support the move for his country to rid itself of the Privy Council.
Although the new Prime Minister of St Lucia, Stephen King, wants his country to have the CCJ as the final court, the opposition leader, Kenny Anthony thinks otherwise. This is surprising since Anthony, while he was Prime Minister, attended the inauguration ceremony in Port of Spain and gave no indication that he was not in favour of the regional court.
And now an opposition senator in Trinidad and Tobago, Mark Wade, has lashed out at the CCJ and said that” taxpayers’ money was being wasted on judges of the CCJ who are receiving fat pay cheques for doing nothing.”
Addressing the Senate on the CCJ Headquarters Bill, Wade said that that a cloud of mystery hangs over the CCJ, as he questioned where was the accountability and transparency in the court’s operations. He called on the Attorney General to ascertain the amount of money being spent for the court’s maintenance as well as salaries for judges and personnel.
The Senator also pointed out that the judges were benefiting from immunity privileges and travelling perks.
It is more than seven years since the governments of ten Caribbean countries signed the agreement establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), but at the inauguration on April 16, 2005 only two countries, Guyana and Barbados accepted the CCJ as the final court of appeal.
Despite calls from the President of the Court, Trinidadian Michael de la Bastide, the governments of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua, Belize, Grenada Dominica, St Kitts/Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Bahamas and Suriname are still to join. And there is little indication that any one of these countries will do so in the near future.
According to the CCJ website, the Court has dealt with eight substantive appeals and several applications for leave were also heard. Last month, three applications from Guyana for leave to appeal were denied by the CCJ.
A report from the Caribbean Media Corporation also stated that the President of the Court said that during last year the Court received nine appeals from Guyana.
I think that it is time that the authorities, maybe Caricom, seek the assistance of a lobbyist in order to woo the governments and opposition to initiate steps to join the CCJ.
They should seek the assistance of persons of the calibre of Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secre- tariat who has been advocating Caribbean unity for more than four decades.
If the opposition parties do not support the move the required constitutional amendment cannot be put in place to remove the Privy Council as the final court.
