Humiliation over CCJ?

TRINIDAD and Tobago seems destined to suffer a major international embarrassment over the impending establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice. While measures are proceeding to meet the Court’s official inauguration next March, TT is yet to debate the necessary legislation which would replace the Privy Council with the CCJ as the country’s final court of appeal. The disturbing prospect is that TT, which was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the CCJ, may end up languishing outside its jurisdiction since the parliamentary majority needed to enact the legislation seems unlikely to be forthcoming. For reasons that appear to us strictly obstructionist, Basdeo Panday and the UNC Opposition have declared their decision not to support the CCJ measure since they would prefer to maintain the country’s links with the Privy Council.

The extent of the humiliation which TT faces from this “turnaround” was emphasised yesterday with the announcement of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission that Justice Rolston Nelson, a member of TT’s Court of Appeal, is one of six jurists selected to be appointed judges of the Caribbean Court. In terms of judicial expertise, TT’s contribution is already impressive with the appointment of former Chief Justice Michael de La Bastide to the Court’s chairmanship. The fact is that TT has played a leading role in the groundwork effort to realise the dream of sovereign Commonwealth Caribbean states to have their own final appeal court.

One of the most enthusiastic advocates of the CCJ and perhaps the most energetic of its planners was former UNC attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. Also, it was former prime minister Basdeo Panday who pledged TT’s support for the CCJ when he and other Caricom heads of government met in Barbados in 1999 and signed the treaty setting up the Court. Again, TT’s enthusiasm in this enterprise is demonstrated by the fact that the country is providing the lion’s share of its initial financing which includes the establishment of its headquarters in Port-of-Spain. Several millions were spent on refurbishing the Winsure building on Richmond Street to house the Court but this venue had to be abandoned when it was discovered there was no elevator for the judges in the five storey building.

Now a building on Henry Street, which was intended to provide new quarters for the Director of Public Prosecutions department, is being renovated at great cost to accommodate the CCJ. After the tremendous contribution by Trinidad and Tobago to the planning and establishment of the CCJ, it would be a resounding embarrassment for our country if  our Parliament fails to pass the necessary legislation to finally bring the Court on stream. We hope that Mr Panday and the UNC fully understand the implications for TT if they now renege on the positive stand they had taken while in Government to endorse and support this vital exercise in Caribbean integration.

Apart from the humiliation such opposition would inflict on our country, it would also send a message to the rest of the world that we do not believe our region is mature enough for this critical exercise in sovereignty, and that we are so lacking in judicial experience and expertise that we must continue to depend on the Law Lords in London to preside over final appeals against the decisions of our courts. The UNC, in our view, has done the country a disservice by its reversal over the Police Reform Bills. Now, it seems, they are determined to repeat the absurd performance, regardless of the damaging consequences to our country.