UNC claims victory as House passes CCJ Bill

THE House of Representatives passed the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Bill 2004 with amendments around 9 pm on Wednesday, clearing the way for the court to be established in Trinidad and Tobago in its original jurisdiction. At a news conference in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh called the event a victory for the UNC, saying  the party’s opposition to the removal of the Privy Council as TT’s final appellate court has been reinforced by yesterday’s ruling by the English law lords that the Jamaican government had not followed proper procedure in enacting CCJ legislation.

Singh recalled that on January 10, Attorney-General John Jeremie deferred debate on the CCJ in Parliament because Government wanted to join the Jamaican government in arguing the constitutionality of the CCJ before the Privy Council. The Chief Whip produced advanced copies of the Privy Council’s judgment in the matter and said the law lords had ruled that “the CCJ in the Jamaican context is now unconstitutional and that has an effect throughout the Caribbean.” According to Singh, the judgment clearly shows the Jamaican government did not follow proper procedure in enacting the CCJ legislation.

Singh said closer examination of the judgment vindicates the UNC’s position about the independence of the Privy Council, its imperviousness to local pressure and “the risk that the governments of the contracting states might amend the CCJ agreement so as to weaken its independence. That is why the UNC stood resolutely and firmly that we would not support the removal of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal for TT. Today’s judgment vindicates our position,” Singh declared. One hour before the Bill’s passage, Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Minister Colm Imbert quoted excerpts from the February 2001 Caricom Treaty which committed TT to the establishment of the court in its original and appellate jurisdictions. Imbert said it was former prime minister Basdeo Panday who signed that treaty and the UNC was now backtracking on that commitment for the sake of political expediency.

In response to earlier claims by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said while the PNM did not support the CCJ in 1987, it subsequently changed its thinking on the matter, but it did not follow the UNC’s example of signing a treaty to establish the CCJ, then renege on it. The Lower House will meet next Friday to debate the Anti-Terrorism Bill. Once enacted, the Bill carries penalties of life imprisonment for certain terrorist offences and allows the State to seize the assets of persons convicted of terrorism. In an address to the United Nations General Assembly last November, Prime Minister Patrick  Manning said government planned to bring tough, anti-terrorism legislation to Parliament and this will allow TT to meets its international obligations to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373. The Senate sits on February 15 to complete debate on the Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bill 2004.