Letter of the Day | CCJ not ideal for Jamaica right now

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to the article by Patrick Robinson titled ‘The colonial spectacle’, published in The Gleaner on April 28.

Most Jamaicans are not interested in the colonial spectacle, because that is history. They are interested in prosperity. So, I invite you to read the following letters to the editor that were published in The Gleaner:

– ‘Respect Privy Council decision’, published March 18, 2024;

– ‘Why states have not acceded their final courts of appeal to CCJ’, August 18, 2022;

– ‘Lots of work to do before considering CCJ as final court’, April 6, 2024;

– ‘Of the Privy Council and CCJ’, December 13, 2003;

– ‘Make judicial system more efficient’, July 26, 2021.

So the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is evolving and therefore, it is not the ideal final Court of Appeal for Jamaica at this time.

There is much more work to be done to complete the constitutional amendment in order for Jamaica to gain republican status. The people want to hold the power, but elect representatives to exercise that power. Therefore, they want Parliament to amend sections 13 8(a, b) of the Constitution.

My understanding of the Section 13 (a) is, when a court of law convicted a person of murder and sentenced that person to be executed (death), after the sentence is imposed on that person, the government can keep that person on death row for however long they want and execute that person whenever they want. The government also has the death penalty on the book. That means if they want to reinstate the death penalty after Jamaica gains republican status, they can do so.

I know Caribbean is awash with illegal American guns. Last year, fully 85 per cent of murders and violent crimes in Jamaica were carried out with illegal firearms. That same year, firearms were used 87 per cent of the time. It is literally impossible to stop the influx of American guns into Jamaica. So, we are unable to reduce violet crime, which impacts economic growth.

I propose that we build more prisons and continue using the mandatory sentencing law, so we can boost our economic growth.

CARGILL KELLY