PRIME MINISTER TIllman Thomas’ public disagreement on the weekend with Jamaica over its expressed intention to set up its own final appellate court would have come as a surprise to many.
The surprise would be that it is a departure from the norm among heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. But the Grenadian leader’s stand would be applauded as welcome support of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)as this region’s final appeal institution – in place of Britain’s Privy Council. Declaring as “strange” the reason advanced by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding – about the likelihood of political interference in rulings by the CCJ – Mr Thomas argued that “domestically it makes it easier for political interference [in a national appeal court] . . .”. The Grenadian leader, a lawyer of long standing, may have forgotten, when he went public with his rebuke of Jamaica’s declared intention, that a similar signal had come earlier from the new People’s Partnership Government (PPG) of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago where the CCJ has its headquarters. Both the governments of Kingston and Port-of-Spain have continued to show preference for the Privy Council as their court of last resort and avoid making any public gesture of appreciation for the CCJ as the symbol of severance from British colonialism.
Grenada is among countries of the organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) where a national referendum to cut ties with the Privy Council is constitutionally required. Committed to parting company with the Privy Council and accessing CCJ membership – as Belize did last year – Prime Minister Thomas has already initiated moves toward this end – in consultation with the parliamentary opposition. a working document is to inform the public on why it would be consistent with Grenada’s political sovereignty and commitment to West Indian jurisprudence to join the CCJ. For Mr Thomas, therefore, disagreement with any CaRICoM government seeking to establish its own final appeal court and ignore the CCJ is simply a matter of principle in favour of Caribbean sovereignty and recognition of the “competence and integrity of our own judges . . .”. all CaRICoM states, including Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, that recognize the CCJ’s original jurisdiction in the resolution of trade disputes, financially support the regional institution.
In St Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ attempt to sever the colonial link with the Privy Council was a primary feature of a new constitution he failed to have endorsed in a national referendum. a government of Jamaica is not bound to have such a referendum. Further, it can confidently expect unqualified support from the parliamentary opposition. Why then the reluctance to access the CCJ if it’s not a case of lack of confidence in its competence and independence?
Prime Minister Thomas may wish to encourage discussion on wider support for the CCJ when he hosts the Inter-Sessional Meeting of CaRICoM heads of Government in St George’s in the last week of this month.
