Letter of the Day |Justice delayed is justice denied
Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 5:12 PM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
How can justice that can only be accessed by a small minority be better than an itinerant court that is accessible to Jamaican and other Caribbean citizens? How can so-called justifiable arguments be used against implementing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica’s final appellate court when, the country’s most prominent Constitutional lawyer, Lloyd Barnett studied the cases tried by the CCJ – which, has been in operation for over the past two decades – concluded, from as far back as 2012, that Jamaica should accede to the CCJ as its final court. Likewise, former prime ministers of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, Portia Simpson Miller and P.J. Patterson are also wholeheartedly of that view.
Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte tends to go back and forth then back again around the proverbial Mulberry Bush whenever she attempts to justify why Jamaica has not relinquished its relationship with the UK Privy Council and/or support the argument that the CCJ should, indeed, be Jamaica’s final court. Her oft-used argument is that the Holness administration also looking at the possibility of establishing a wholly Jamaican final appellate court. This recommendation is highly impractical from a financial standpoint and akin to Jamaica breaking away from The University if the West Indies and taking on the extremely daunting task of establishing its own independent university. Additionally, given that many of the country’s current local courts are in dire need of improvement. From the infrastructure, the state of the buildings that house these courts that need updating to the billions of dollars that would be necessary to establish a Jamaican final appellate court. All this money can be put to far better use improving the courts that are currently in operational.
If justice delayed is indeed justice denied then by default is the honourable Minister Malahoo Forte and the current administration not denying justice to many Jamaicans who cannot afford to take their cases to the UK Privy Council?
PATRICK GALLIMORE