CCJ opening deferred to March 2005

THE INAUGURATION of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has been postponed to March 2005. In a statement yesterday, the Caricom Secretariat indicated that Caricom leaders have accepted the advice of CCJ president Michael de la Bastide and Inauguration Task Force chairman (Barbados Chief Justice) Sir David Simmons to postpone the CCJ’s inauguration to the first quarter of 2005. According to the Caricom Secretariat, three reasons were advanced for the postponement of the CCJ’s inauguration. The first, is a recent decision by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to change the location of the court from the originally designated site (on Richmond Street in Port-of-Spain) and its new headquarters will not be ready by the November 6 date — which was agreed on by Caricom leaders when they met in Grenada in July. Secondly, all Caricom states have not completed the necessary legislative processes to invest the CCJ with jurisdictions under local law.

TT, Guyana and Grenada still need to pass the relevant legislation. The Secretariat said while TT and Guyana may complete these processes before November 6, “it will be virtually impossible for Grenada to do so owing to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ivan in September.” In Trinidad, the Opposition United National Congress is refusing to support CCJ legislation in Parliament unless Government initiates constitutional reform. Prime Minister Patrick Manning has criticised the UNC for supporting the CCJ in government and then doing an about-face in Opposition. Finally, time is required for the CCJ’s five judges and other senior executive staff to give reasonable notice of termination of their existing employment. The Regional Judicial Legal Services Commission is also in the process of interviewing and selecting necessary senior executive staff. Under these circumstances and TT’s Carnival celebrations in February 2005, Caricom leaders have agreed “to defer inauguration of the CCJ until a date in March 2005 to be determined by them.”