EDITORIAL - Invidious diplomacy

Mr A.J. Nicholson will have to decide whether he wants to be Jamaica's foreign minister, or revert to his old job at Justice. Or, the role could be special adviser on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Maybe, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has to clearly decide where she wants Mr Nicholson, a man of undoubted passion, who can be of value to the administration.

In the meantime, Mr Nicholson remains the top man at the foreign ministry, where he is not expected to unnecessarily place diplomats in invidious positions - as was potentially the case last week when he addressed a function as part of Diplomatic Week.

Dr Iva Gloudon, Trinidad and Tobago's high commissioner to Jamaica, handled a potentially awkward situation with skill. We suspect, though, that the cable on the event and the response in Port-of-Spain would make interesting reading.

Mr Nicholson is, of course, right about the logic of the CCJ - in historical, economic and jurisprudential terms. Even if you discount the matter of the repatriation of the last symbol of colonial rule, it is obvious that a regional court, for which Jamaica has already paid, will open the highest tier of justice to a wider group of people. It is in all respects cheaper to go to Port-of-Spain than to London.

Further, there is no credible argument about the independence of the court, the insulation it enjoys, or the quality of its jurisprudence.

So, a growing number of people support accession to the court. That, however, is largely a political issue, that is especially contentious in Trinidad and Tobago. The United National Congress (UNC), which leads the governing coalition, was at one time in favour of the CCJ, but not any longer.

The UNC is likely to be still in office in August when, like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago marks its 50th anniversary of independence. Indeed, a general election is not constitutionally due in Trinidad and Tobago for more than two years.

When Mr Nicholson declared "how wonderful it would be" if both countries, on the same day, table in their respective Parliaments legislation to make them fully part of the CCJ, that was essentially a political statement, bordering on domestic interference.

no damage, hopefully

But Mr Nicholson went on: "I know ... that representatives here must boggle their imagination and minds how a country or a group of countries have their final court of appeal in a country which you have to have a visa to enter."

Significantly, High Commissioner Gloudon was one of the speakers at the function where Mr Nicholson engaged in this bit of public, political diplomacy. She pointedly ignored the egging on about the CCJ, saying only that Port-of-Spain was ready to work on "several of the initiatives" that Jamaica had put forward.

We don't expect that the Trinidadian prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, would be amused. Hopefully, though, no damage has been done.

It is time, however, for Mr Nicholson to concentrate on the wider canvas of Jamaica's foreign policy on which he has elaborated little since he started to shadow that portfolio. Mark Golding, the justice minister, may even eke out room to offer a perspective on the CCJ.

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