Letter of the Day | What message is the government sending?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

What is the evidence that leads the government to conclude, and to proclaim, that for would-be foreign investors, Jamaica’s attachment to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as a mechanism which “solves disputes” is a plus?

What message was the government attempting to send by the foreign minister specifically projecting that sentiment at a forum in Panama City, recently?

That would then leave prospective investors and others to wonder why, of the 50 plus former colonies of Britain across the continents which originally subscribed to this “convenient dispute-solving” court according as the Jamaican Government suggests, only a handful remain.

Surely, it is not lost on government leadership that, for would-be investors, their research teams keep them up to date on the social, political and judicial environment of Jamaica and of any other country in prospect.

No secrets abound! They know that over the years only wealthy Jamaicans have enjoyed the privilege of unimpeded access to the British court.

They are fully aware that, and wonder why, the present Jamaican Government stands in the way of the overwhelming majority of their citizens having such access by preventing attachment to the globally well received Caribbean Court of Justice which serves countries in which they and perhaps some of their competitors have already invested.

Moreover, for foreign investors these days, litigation in courts of law has become less and less a likely avenue through which commercial disputes are settled.

In any event, would litigation in the London court not present a far greater cost to them than in the regional court?

So, with far more questions raised than answers provided, what is the plus; what really is the intent of the message being sent by the government? And what is the basis on which they ground their magical declaration?

It is long past time that the government stops fiddling around concerning the democratic entitlement to access to final justice.

The more they seek to distance themselves from the regional court, the more absurd and ludicrous is the leadership that they continue to present, with this and other types of inane declarations, such as Jamaica creating its own final appellate court, shamelessly unthinking, coming from them.

Fly high or fly low, there is no alternative to Jamaica completing the grant of the just entitlement to privileged access to all our courts for all our people, including our respected foreign investors, by fulfilling the treaty obligation to subscribe fully to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

A.J. NICHOLSON