Dear Editor,
Ever since the inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in April 2005, and even before that, after its establishment in February 2001, I have been calling on regional leaders to abolish appeals from the Privy Council and accept the CCJ as the final court, but unfortunately the pleas are unheeded and so far only three countries, Guyana, Barbados and Belize have joined.
I have written more than two dozen articles on the issue ‒ so much so I was told by a few prominent persons that I was beating a dead horse, since interest is waning and soon it would be forgotten. There seems to be some merit in the statement since Jamaica, the country which was in the forefront of campaigns for the regional court more than two decades ago cannot yet make up its mind. Three years ago the then Prime Minister, Bruce Golding said he would set up a Jamaican final appellate court, but that idea was shelved. That country was querying that there was no national as a judge, however one, Justice Anderson, was appointed four years ago. Now one of the country’s leading attorneys, Ronald Mason, who is said to be very influential, is advocating that the final appellate court should be based in Canada. What rubbish; how can Canada suddenly be in the picture when Jamaica is contributing 27% of the funds to administer the regional court.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar announced in Parliament that she would go half way and accepted the CCJ to hear criminal appeals only, and that civil cases should continue to be dealt with by the British Privy Council. However since the statement was issued more than a year ago, nothing has been done to remove criminal appeals from the Privy Council. Maybe the Prime Minister was not serious when she issued the stateme
nt, although her mentor, Basdeo Panday whom she succeeded as leader of the UNC was the Prime Minister who pushed for the court to be based in Port of Spain.
The court has well-trained, highly qualified and experienced judges well-equipped libraries, a spacious conference room, robing room, etc. I was elated with the courtroom’s appearance with the most modern, fascinating telephonic equipment which is said to be one of the best in the world. The facilities include: a document reader/visual presenter; laptop computers, DVF/VCR audio/video digital recording (microphones are located throughout the courtroom) wireless internet access, and audio/video transcripts.
It is unbelievable that Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago which gained political independence 50 long years ago cannot cut the apron strings to the colonial Privy Council despite calls from prominent West Indians including Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary General, PJ Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica Dr Nick Liverpool, former President of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Sir George Alleyne former UWI Chancellor and Sir Alister McIntyre, former Secretary General of the Caribbean Community.
These five distinguished Caribbean nationals are all recipients of the region’s highest award, the Order of the Caribbean Community.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
