Robert Hart, Parliamentary Reporter
Senator A.J. Nicholson and Karl Samuda M.P.
JUSTICE MINISTER Senator A.J. Nicholson came under fire from Opposition parliamentarians yesterday when he refused to halt the proceedings of the joint select committee on the new Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) legislation.
Little more than an hour into the tense first meeting of the parliamentary committee, Minister Nicholson, the committee chairman, rejected a call from Opposition member Karl Samuda, to immediately vote on an Opposition motion asking civil groups to give their views on the bill.
"You are breaching the regulations of Parliament to satisfy your narrow interest," Mr. Samuda charged with the approval of boisterous Opposition colleagues.
But a visibly annoyed Senator Nicholson argued that he wanted to first see how far the committee members could reach in their own discussions on the legislation.
"If we said that (we should invite submissions) now...you know how parliamentarians are... most of them would leave (the Chamber)," the justice minister said, suggesting that committee members would lose interest in completing the day's proceedings.
But Opposition Senator Bruce Golding pointed out that, before agreeing to aspects of the legislation, he wanted to hear the views of members of the private sector. Those groups, including the Jamaica Manufacturers Associa-tion and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, could primarily be affected by the CCJ's rulings on trade disputes between member states of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
STRUCK DOWN BY PRIVY COUNCIL
The CCJ (Original Jurisdiction) Bill was quickly drafted to replace three bills passed in Parliament last year and struck down as unconstitutional by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council last month.
The Government is hoping to establish the proposed legislation in law before the scheduled April 16 inauguration of the CCJ. The court, however, will not be introduced as Jamaica's final court of appeal until the Government and Opposition agree on a procedure for entrenching the court and satisfying the Privy Council ruling.
Arlene Harrison Henry, president of the Jamaica Bar Asso-ciation, was yesterday invited as head of that professional body. She noted though, that she had only recently received a copy of the legislation and wanted more time to examine it properly.
With the Opposition refusing to continue discussions for more than 40 minutes, K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, was prompted to calm the Chamber on several occasions. He attempted unsuccessfully to convince the committee chairman to agree to the Opposition's wishes for an immediate agreement to invite submissions.
Minister Nicholson only entertained the idea of inviting views at the end of the sitting, with the committee agreeing to set next Wednesday as the deadline for submissions, from any interest group, to be sent to Parliament.
The committee will meet again on March 23, leaving little time for the bill to be passed before the end of the legislative year on March 31.
