DO CARICOM Member States have to hold a referendum to join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)?
That’s the big question in Saint Lucia, where the former Prime Minister, Dr. Kenny D. Anthony says that’s what he was told when he broached the subject officially while in office.

Current Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre is gung-ho about ensuring Saint Lucia is the next CARICOM nation to forgo the London-based Privy Council in favour of the regional appellate court and, therefore, concerned about the implications, if what Dr. Anthony was told is true.

Dr. Anthony is a teacher of law, and PM Pierre is a consummate politician; and both face(d) the same issue, at different times.

Obviously, Dr. Anthony, considering the chances of holding a successful referendum with a safe 66.6 per cent vote is as easy as playing with snow cones in hell, opted not to go that route.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Pierre would hardly go full speed ahead like he is, if he wasn’t sure he’s being properly advised.

The present and past PMs seem to be approaching the same matter differently: One watching the Constitution; the other looking at the government’s overwhelming 15-2 parliamentary mandate.

Whether it’s a question of the power of a Constitution virtually imposed by a colonial power versus the power of an overwhelming people’s mandate, it’s an issue that will always divide lawyers and politicians.

But this is also ultimately a matter of whether Saint Lucia could determine its own future after 43 years of Independence, without being restrained by a legal hurdle or stumbling block planted in its Constitution by the power supposedly ceding constitutional control to an ex-colony.

The Constitutions of most former British Commonwealth colonies today still allow the former colonial power to continue to exercise royal political dominance over “all its realms”; republic or not.

If a referendum is the only way forward to the CCJ, it, therefore, allows The Crown’s inserted constitutional guarantees to delay — even prevent — a government with an overwhelming parliamentary majority of over 66.6 per cent of elected members (more than two-thirds) from exercising its mandate as per the electorate’s democratically-expressed will.

It’s for the same reason that none of the recommendations from the island’s Constitutional Reform Commission could be adopted: No CARICOM government of any nation not yet in the CCJ wants to risk a referendum on virtually anything.

That’s especially given the experiences in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and Antigua & Barbuda, where referenda for constitutional change and joining the CCJ, respectively, were rejected by the majority of the minority of the electorate who voted, mainly on partisan political lines.

On January 27, 2022, a top CCJ team, led by its President, Justice Adrian Saunders, met with Saint Lucian parliamentarians, judicial and legal officers and court officials, and nothing he said suggested there were roadblocks or insurmountable barriers to Saint Lucia’s entry into the regional court’s appellate jurisdiction.

Justice Saunders made the legal and commonsense cases for Saint Lucia to become the next CARICOM Member State to show confidence in the ability of Caribbean judges to deliver justice for Caribbean people – and better than any sitting in London.

However, whatever the ultimate cases presented, a tailored and sustained public education campaign will be necessary; one that will also last way beyond the historic date when the CCJ becomes Saint Lucia’s highest appellate court.

Such an education campaign will necessarily have to go from island-to-island, mainland-to-mainland, territory-to-territory, including the non-independent associated states of remaining colonies (by whatever name), as they, too, will become independent and have the option of joining the CCJ.

The CCJ, established April 16, 2005, is approaching its 17th year with all CARICOM Member States recognising it, but only four of 14 recognising it as their final appeals court.

It’s an interesting reality in a region between four and six decades independent, but still caught in the clutches of a post-colonial mindset that harbours doubts about the capacity of Caribbean minds to equal or better those below Privy Council wigs and English cork hats.

Unfortunately, the penny-farthing view of justice being rode better by men in the front seat on the bench in robes and lengthy coattails is still strong, although diminishing.

Dr. Anthony’s ultimate respect for the Constitution is such that he is unlikely to even broach stating his personal position on such an issue if it’s likely to cause friction or misunderstanding.

But there are also certain realities about constitutional matters that are definite red lines for Caribbean politicians everywhere; like the recommendation of Saint Lucia’s Constitutional Review Commission that the government be a hybrid of British and American systems, with elected parliamentarians spending their five-year term delivering on their promises to constituencies, while the Prime Minister or President selects non-elected persons to become Cabinet ministers.

In a region where candidates still contest elections with both eyes on becoming Cabinet ministers, first and foremost, if their party wins, this proposal was rejected outright by both government and opposition when the commission’s findings were tabled and discussed in the Saint Lucia Parliament a few years ago.

But Caribbean politicians and supporters, today, who oppose joining the CCJ must learn to put nation and region before party, and see the damage they prolong by hanging on to the coattails of English Lords they consider legally infallible, and more judicially honest than lesser Caribbean peers.

If independent nations cannot decide, on their own, whether to freely choose their final Court of Appeal, they simply cannot be considered legally or constitutionally free from direct colonial influence or dominance.

The government side in the Saint Lucia Parliament, unlike any other in CARICOM, actually comprises ‘three prime ministers’ (persons who’ve held the position of Prime Minister): PM Pierre, Dr. Anthony and Senior Minister, Stephenson King.

Their collective wisdom will eventually prevail, but what matters most is how well the government and opposition make their case(s) in the court of public opinion.
That said, I rest my case… (end)