By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson yesterday ratified the agreement setting up the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and used the opportunity to restate his objection to a referendum on the controversial court.
Addressing guests at the ceremony, which took place at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Mr. Patterson suggested that he would be sticking with the procedures set out in the Constitution for abolishing appeals to the UK-based Privy Council - the island's final court of appeal.
FOUNDING FATHERS
"Let me again repeat, I have no intention to reverse the position adopted by our Founding Fathers who deliberately refused to entrench the Privy Council in our Constitution of 1962," Mr. Patterson told his audience, which included Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, and Dr. Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
He went on: "Nor do I intend to diminish, by one jot or tittle, the authority conferred on our Parliament to decide, without recourse to any requirement of a referendum, that the time has arrived for the establishment of the court to exercise our final appellate jurisdiction."
The Jamaican Constitution allows the Government to set up the CCJ using a simple majority in Parliament. However, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), along with the Jamaican Bar Association and other local groups, have been demanding that the Patterson administration hold a referendum to give the people the opportunity to decide whether they want to swap the Privy Council with the CCJ, as the country's final appeal court.
In fact, Opposition Leader, Edward Seaga, has repeatedly stated that a future JLP Government would pull out of the CCJ if it were not given the stamp of approval by the people.
As a result of the contention over the court, the JLP along with local human rights group, Jamaicans for Justice, boycotted yesterday's ratification ceremony, which was attended by prominent members of the legal profession, the judiciary, academia and other civic groups, who packed into the lobby at the OPM.
Prime Minister Patterson said yesterday, that the victory of the governing People's National Party (PNP) at the polls last year, was an endorsement by the public
of the move to set up the court, given that the party had made its intention clear in its election manifesto.
"We have received the approval of the electorate in the results of the general election and we propose to carry out that undertaking," he added.
However, a recent opinion poll commissioned by The Gleaner and carried out by pollster, Don Anderson, showed that even though most Jamaicans were in favour of the CCJ, a clear majority thought the Government should hold a referendum. Some 63 per cent of those interviewed are in favour of a referendum on the court, while 34.5 per cent are opposed to it.
Attorney-General, A.J. Nichol-son, explained yesterday, that ratification of the agreement will not bring the CCJ into being, but the pact will now become legally binding on Jamaica under international law. He said participating Caribbean territories will now have to enact legislation in their various territories and make Constitutional amendments to give effect to the court.
Ratification will also facilitate the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which is seeking to raise US$100 million on the international capital market that will be placed in a trust fund to finance the court.
In his brief remarks, Dr. Carrington told guests that the CDB is well on its way to securing the money. He said the court has been in the making for a long time, but was now on its way and will have its inaugural session in November this year.
Prime Minister Owen Arthur said the CCJ was critical to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and, by extension, the economic survival of the region.
"It will undoubtedly help us to create successful societies in a successful region," he said.
