Gopeesingh slams CCJ

The Upper House was debating a bill to establish the US$100 million trust fund whose annual interest would finance the CCJ.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Knowlson Gift said Trinidad and Tobago will contribute 29 percent of this cost, the highest share of any Caricom state. Gopeesingh scoffed at the Government for touting high-sounding ideals to support the CCJ, while at the same time our local court system is in shambles.

“At the same time that these monies are being allotted to the highest level, the lowest levels of justice are crying out for money,” he said.

He said Trinidad and Tobago had to contribute $200 million to the CCJ and it had no cases to be resolved, while at the same time the magistrates’ courts were overburdened with 400,000 cases being judged by just 40 magistrates in dilapidated courthouses. Gopeesingh said in 16 months, the CCJ has heard just four cases from across the whole Caribbean.

Underlining the waste of money spent on the CCJ, he said annually the whole Caribbean usually has less than 22 cases meriting appeal to the Privy Council, while local magistrates and high courts lack transcription facilities.

Gopeesingh said a “cabal” of Caribbean leaders wants to set up the CCJ for esoteric reasons including claims that it wants to take away the shackles of colonialism, while in fact the CCJ will make no difference to the life of the average citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.

“This CCJ is a Trojan horse. It is being put out as a symbol of nationalism, Caribbean independence, a deepening of the integration movement, and a symbol of sovereignty, but within the bars of the CCJ lies the devastation of democracy.”