BY Oscar Ramjeet

THE two largest English speaking countries in the Caribbean Community seem to have backtracked from their original position two decades ago and so far have not abolished appeals to the Privy Council and join the appellate division of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were in the forefront pegging away for the regional court and now more than 16 years after the inauguration they have not yet done so. Moreso the two countries spent tens of millions of dollars in the establishment of the Court and so far they have obtained very little benefit but they have themselves to blame. Eduard Seaga, former leader of the Jamaica Labour Party and Prime Minister and Basdeo Panday, former Head of Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and leader of the UNC party were encouraging other CARICOM countries to join the regional court. As a matter of fact it was because of Panday the Court is headquartered in Port of Spain. It is regrettable and rather puzzling for their failure to do so. Granted that there have been change of governments in both countries, but the UNC and JLP were back at the helm. In fact, the current Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness is the leader of the JLP (Seaga’s party).

Holness at first was in favour, but changed his mind and now calling for a referendum in order to give the electorates a say if or not to ditch the London-based Privy Council. At first the CCJ was deemed a hanging court, but that excuse cannot be used any longer in the light of a recent decision by the Court in a Barbadian murder case. Prime Minister Keith Rowley was in favour of the regional court when he was in the opposition, now he is at the helm is another ball game. Opposition leader, Kamla Persad Bissessar was considering abolishing only criminal cases, but this might not be in keeping with the Treaty of Chaguaramas. You cannot adopt what has been described as a “half slave”, “half free” policy. You have to abolish totally. Several leading Caribbean scholars including Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, and P.J. Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, both outstanding jurists, are strongly advocating for the CCJ, not to mention former Presidents of the Court, Trinidadian Michael de la Bastide and Sir Denis Byron of St Kitts/Nevis. There is no doubt that regional court has outstanding justices and their decisions have been lauded by international Law Lords and other distinguished justices. What is important is that it dispenses expeditiously with cases as was done in the Guyana no-confidence motion and the election-related cases. The Guyana appeals were heard in matter of weeks, which would have taken several months before the Privy Council.

It seems as if it might take several years before more countries get onboard. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada failed in referenda to remove the Privy Council as the final Court. St. Lucia does not need a referendum, but has to delink from the Privy Council, but the powers to be are flip flopping. Some feel that the authorities should have waited until more countries signalled their intention to join before the establishment. Guyana and Barbados were the only two countries in April 2005 when the Court was inaugurated followed by Belize in June 1, 2019 and five years later by Dominica in 2015.
An interesting question is funding, but it seems as if the Court can survive with only four countries for quite some time. The interest and investment from the US$100 million Trust Fund would be able to sustain the functioning for several years. The Court currently has modern equipment and visual telephonic facilities which facilitate lawyers to conduct their cases from jurisdictions outside Port of Spain – extremely convenient and substantially reduce the costs of litigation. I do not see any valid reason for the reluctance to sever link with the London based Privy Council. Trinidad and Jamaica gained political independence since 1962 – nearly 59 years ago yet they are hesitant to have judicial independence.