THE St. Lucia Labour Party which has now formed the government following the July 26, 2021, General Elections, had made it clear to the electorate that should it win the election, a St. Lucia Labour Party government will commence the process for the accession to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
As I write, St. Lucia, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, of which Queen Elizabeth the second is the head, uses the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as its final Appellate Court or its final Court of Appeal.
Over the years, the Privy Council had been asked for final rulings and interpretations of civil and criminal matters. The five judges of the Judicial Committee are Justices of the Supreme Court drawn from the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the United Kingdom.
The judges of the Privy Council, although very learned, are far removed from our social and democratic norms and rights of our people.
There are many aspects of the workings of the Privy Council that St. Lucians do not know. For example, the cost of using the Privy Council as our final Court of Appeal.
I was utterly surprised, perhaps shocked, during a Friday morning programme, let’s talk law on radio 100, to hear lawyer Andy George, a guest of the programme, reveal that he had reason to lay documents before the Privy Council which cost 4,000 pounds sterling. That is, simply to submit the relevant documents of the appeal case to council. If the exchange rate of the pound sterling against the Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollar was $3, it cost him EC$12,000.to present the documents.
Now the cost of travel, boarding and lodging, ground transportation and other incidentals are to be added to the final bill for using the Privy Council as our final appeal court. As Counsel Andy George puts it, there is also the cost of Advocacy. By that he meant the payment by the client to argue the case before the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
Therefore, if we add another $13,000 dollars to the bill it would cost a St. Lucian about EC$25,000 to appeal to the Privy Council by any lawyer.
Indeed, that cost does not guarantee the desired outcome of the case. And the client would not be able to proceed any further with the case.
The government has already begun the process for the accession to the Caribbean Court of Justice, as I heard in the local news that an official of the CCJ had been on island to hold discussion with the government on the matter.
Now, when was the Caribbean Court of Justice Established? Although the court was founded in 2001, the court was established in 2005.It is located in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The CCJ is the final Court of Appeal on civil and criminal matters for some CARICOM Member states.
Now what is the purpose of the CCJ? The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community and has exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Time and space do not allow me to go into the treaty of Chaguaramas. But it is important to know and understand that the CCJ serves as the court of Final Appeal for those CARICOM States which have replaced the United Kingdom’s judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice are selected by a Caribbean Commission from a pool of well trained, experienced and respected justices within the Caribbean Community. People who know and understand the social and democratic norms of our people.
Sir Denis Byron who gave distinguished service as a justice of the High Court of our country is a current member of the seven-member panel of the CCJ.
We come now to the very important aspect of the accession to the CCJ. And that is communication with our people. I have been trained and certified in Language and Communication, and it would be difficult, almost absurd, for me not to agree that communicating with our people about the CCJ is necessary.
But I do not agree with a Referendum! The reasons for my disagreement are threefold.
Firstly, the government, prior to the 2021 General Elections made it known that should it win the election, and the election was a very popular election, it would accede to the CCJ. The government won the elections with a two-thirds majority in Parliament. That is sufficient to proceed to accede to the CCJ. Notwithstanding, the government should use all the avenues available to it to explain or provide information on the CCJ. The “each one teach one” approach should also be adopted.
Secondly, the cost of going to the Privy Council is prohibitive for most of our people. The CCJ would provide better or easier access to Justice. Many of our people can’t even eat what we refer to as a healthy and regular meal. Many others live in homes which are dilapidated and needs attention. They just can’t afford going to the Privy Council for Justice.
And thirdly, I am old enough to understand that our people in the region do not appreciate their own. And I need to explain this further.
The West Indies Federation was a short-lived political union that existed from January 3, 1958, to 31 May, 1962.I was old enough at the time to remember the existence of the West Indies Federation.
The Federation was dismantled or broken up because of the selfishness of politicians who had their own agenda. Let us investigate the breaking up of the West Indies Federation. Sir Alexander Bustamante, who was the chief Minister of Jamaica representing the Jamaica Labour Party lost the election of 1955. Premier Norman Manly had won the election of 1955. Sir Alexander Bustamante, for his selfish, political reasons, had grouses with the Federation. Now the Federation had its challenges but Sir Bustamante did not provide any support to Premier Norman Manly to try to overcome those challenges.
Instead he pressured Premier Norman Manly to call a Referendum in 1961 for Jamaica to leave the Federation. Sir Bustamante achieved his goal and Jamaica broke up the Federation and then he won the elections of 1961 and brought Jamaica into Independence in 1962.
Finally, I wish to repeat that it is not necessary, for reasons which I have already mentioned, to have a Referendum for St. Lucia to join the Caribbean Court of Justice.