PNP urges Gov't to state stance on CCJ

The Opposition, People's National Party has renewed its call for Prime Minister Bruce Golding to firmly state the Government's position on Jamaica having the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final court of appeal.

The PNP's call came less than 24 hours after outgoing president of the CCJ, Michael de la Bastide, expressed his discomfort with Prime Minister Golding's suggestion that Jamaica should consider establishing its own final appellate court.

The regional jurist, who demits office in August this year, said that move might work against the interest of the region's final appeal court, the CCJ.

"It would not be the best course to follow. I think that the preferable course would be to accept the regional court as the final court.

"I accept, of course that there may be different views on this," de la Bastide said at a press conference on Saturday to introduce his successor, Sir Dennis Byron.

Last December, Golding suggested to lawmakers in Parliament that the country should consider putting in place its own final institution to oversee appellate matters.

But de la Bastide said he was not in support of Golding's position on the issue. In fact, he said the Golding administration's posture was not good for the region.

De la Bastide's position was supported by the PNP which argued that when the prime minister last spoke on the issue in December, he declared that the Government wanted time to consider in depth a final court of appeal located here in Jamaica.

"This was an issue which the JLP had not even hinted at placing on the table for discussion, during these several years and decades," the PNP said

"That suggestion came to be regarded as 'hair brained', particularly with Jamaica facing such challenging economic woes, the uncomfortable state of our local justice system, and with no perceptible urgency being displayed for its reform," added the PNP.

Give a commitment

According to the Opposition, it wants the Golding administration to give a commitment to the CCJ, "not only as a giant step forward in the modernisation of our constitutional and governance arrangements, but also as an indication of Jamaica's full support for the CARICOM integration movement".

The CCJ, which was established 10 years ago, was designed to be the final appellate court for member states of the Caribbean Community.

While Jamaica is a signatory to the establishment of the CCJ, it has not signed on to the court in its appellate jurisdiction.

Only three countries - Barbados, Guyana, and Belize - have signed on to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ.