Statement from the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding MP

Minister Delroy Chuck speciously claims that “the Opposition is using accession to the CCJ as a tactic to delay constitutional reform”, when all the Opposition is saying is: “At the very least, let’s move toward republican status and accession to the CCJ together”.

Ever since their former leader, Edward Seaga, in 2003, pronounced that “for the JLP, the Privy Council as the Final Court of Appeal is paramount”, they have devised and placed stumbling blocks in the way of Jamaica transitioning to the affordable CCJ.

First, they insisted that, aside from the path that the Constitution provides for the transition to be effected by parliamentary vote, Jamaicans must be forced to participate in an unnecessary referendum essentially questioning whether they wish to continue to be denied access to final justice.

They followed with an unforgivable breach of the Constitution by meddling with the provisions that govern Senate membership in order to thwart any possibility of support for a parliamentary vote for access to justice to be made available to the entire citizenry.

Very lately, there has been their public proposal of a preference for a local final appellate court.

As justice minister, Chuck either does not know, or is unjustly withholding from the people, that there are two unanswerable challenges which have anchored the decision since the 1940s for establishment of a regional final court.

Weighing irrefutably against the creation of a local final court is, first, the challenge of affordability. In Jamaica’s case, for example, how is a state-of-the-art edifice to be constructed and maintained to international standards, when even the Parish Courts islandwide are decrepit museum pieces? Not to mention the compensation arrangements and amenities required for an apex court.

Second, even if the affordability hurdle were miraculously overcome, no government can persuade our citizens that it will acceptably insulate this small Caribbean state’s final court from powerful pressures within our geographically-confined space.

The JLP leadership needs to come to terms with the fact that, politically and developmentally, there is no alternative to the CCJ.

It is long past time for the long-suffering people to be relieved of the denial of access to justice. The Bills could be tabled at the next Sitting.

Who is “delaying constitutional reform” Minister Chuck?

Minister Delroy Chuck speciously claims that “the Opposition is using accession to the CCJ as a tactic to delay constitutional reform”, when all the Opposition is saying is: “At the very least, let’s move toward republican status and accession to the CCJ together”.

Ever since their former leader, Edward Seaga, in 2003, pronounced that “for the JLP, the Privy Council as the Final Court of Appeal is paramount”, they have devised and placed stumbling blocks in the way of Jamaica transitioning to the affordable CCJ.

First, they insisted that, aside from the path that the Constitution provides for the transition to be effected by parliamentary vote, Jamaicans must be forced to participate in an unnecessary referendum essentially questioning whether they wish to continue to be denied access to final justice.

They followed with an unforgivable breach of the Constitution by meddling with the provisions that govern Senate membership in order to thwart any possibility of support for a parliamentary vote for access to justice to be made available to the entire citizenry.

Very lately, there has been their public proposal of a preference for a local final appellate court.

As justice minister, Chuck either does not know, or is unjustly withholding from the people, that there are two unanswerable challenges which have anchored the decision since the 1940s for establishment of a regional final court.

Weighing irrefutably against the creation of a local final court is, first, the challenge of affordability. In Jamaica’s case, for example, how is a state-of-the-art edifice to be constructed and maintained to international standards, when even the Parish Courts islandwide are decrepit museum pieces? Not to mention the compensation arrangements and amenities required for an apex court.

Second, even if the affordability hurdle were miraculously overcome, no government can persuade our citizens that it will acceptably insulate this small Caribbean state’s final court from powerful pressures within our geographically-confined space.

The JLP leadership needs to come to terms with the fact that, politically and developmentally, there is no alternative to the CCJ.

It is long past time for the long-suffering people to be relieved of the denial of access to justice. The Bills could be tabled at the next Sitting.

Who is “delaying constitutional reform” Minister Chuck?