Dear Editor,
In response to Mr Vishnu Bisram’s letter captioned ‘What were the reasons for breaking with England and the Privy Council?’ (SN 22.11.08) in response to my letter, ‘Guyanese should be proud that they have broken the bondage of far distant powers,’ published the day before, I’d stated my pride in Guyana’s republican status. Mr Bisram suggested that Guyana may have been better off as a colony and then proceeded to express doubts about the competence of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
He asks what life has been like in Guyana since we attained republican status.
We created our own symbols. We could now hold positions and head various institutions of significance, for example, the judiciary, police and army. We could celebrate Youman Nabi and Phagwah.
At national functions, no longer was only a Christian prayer said, but a Muslim and a Hindu prayer were now included. Our education became relevant. Our culture reflected our diversity and this could now flourish and develop. Self-help and self-reliance were principles to be implemented. We established the Guyana National Co-operative Bank, the Guyana Agricultural and Industrial Bank and the Guyana Mortgage Finance Bank. Linden, Corriverton, Rose Hall, Anna Regina and Bartica were made towns. Guyana could now chart its own course.
“Feed, clothe and house yourself,” and “The small man is a real man” were two of the slogans designed to support a spirit of independence and to help develop confidence in ourselves that we were good enough to row our own canoe.
Imagine where Guyana would have been today if those like Mr Bisram felt we were not good enough to mould our destiny, or ready to be in full control of our affairs.
There remain those, who like Mr Bisram are still rooted in the colonial past who are doubtful that we have demonstrated confidence in ourselves, that we are capable of conducting our own destiny in the area of jurisprudence.
A number of our judges in the region have studied at the same institutions as the English law lords, and in any field of endeavour, we can hold our own.
Maybe Mr Bisram is unaware that Caribbean judges have been appointed privy councilors, among them the late Justice Telford Georges, former President of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica; current President of the Court of Appeal in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands, Justice Edward Zacca; former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Sir Dennis Byron; President of the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Dame Patricia Sawyer; and the current President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Mr Michael de la Bastide.
Lawyers in the region have distinguished themselves internationally, and among them is our own Dr Mohammed Shahabuddeen, who was appointed a judge of the International Court of Justice, then a judge of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and who currently serves as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
The latter court is headed by Kittian, Sir Dennis Byron as President. Trinidadian Justice Anthony Lucky is currently a judge of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in Hamburg as were Justice Dolliver Nelson from Grenada and Jamaican Justice Patrick Robinson. Grenadian Justice Julius Isaac was an outstanding former Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada.
Our Caribbean jurisprudence has been adopted in cases by the Privy Council. The case of Thornhill v AG and the judgment of Justice Telford Georges come to mind. There are others.
Dr Kenny Anthony, former St Lucia Prime Minister, described the judges as “professionals of choice” arguing that on “per capita terms, I doubt if any other community in the world has served the worldwide cause of justice more comprehensively and more consistently than has the Caribbean.” Dr Anthony also added that “establishing the CCJ is not a leap into the dark to be feared, but a leap of enlightenment to be embraced.”
Mr Bisram, I sincerely hope that you’re sufficiently enlightened and ready to embrace the fact that we are good enough, if not better.
Yours faithfully,
Dawn A Holder
