Glimmer of hope on CCJ pact
January 20, 2007
THERE was a glimmer of hope yesterday that the Government and Opposition could reach an agreement to remove the London-based Privy Council as Jamaica's final appeals court.
A decision about whether there should be one referendum or two on a series of constitutional reforms, including the removal of the Privy Council and Jamaica becoming a Republic, was all that appeared to stand between the two.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator A J Nicholson, in a ministerial statement to the Senate, proposed that the electorate be asked to approve the constitutional reforms at a date soon after the next general elections.
But the Opposition's Senator Dorothy Lightbourne insisted that Opposition approval was unlikely unless the Government was prepared to go the route of an indicative referendum in respect of the decision to replace the Privy Council with the regional Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica's final appellate court.
"You are going to have to decide whether you wish to have the electorate subject to two referendums... or you stick to the referendum that is demanded by the constitution," Nicholson responded.
The Jamaican government, under the former prime minister, P J Patterson, gave heavy backing to the establishment of the CCJ to replace the British Privy Council. But faced with blistering opposition from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and human rights groups, was forced to back down and join the CCJ only in its role of interpreting the terms of the Caricom Treaty.
Nicholson said yesterday the Government planned to bring a resolution to Parliament this year, recommending that immediately following the next general elections legislation paving the way for constitutional reform should be drafted, as part of a Cabinet-approved programme to bring the constitution into the 21st century.
The new constitution, he said, should come into being by an act of Parliament through the appropriate process. But he added that it was necessary that the new provisions received the stamp of approval from members of parliament and also of the electorate itself in a referendum.
Nicholson suggested that several matters needed to be settled before that, but there was not enough time before the next general election.
Cabinet had given directions for the production of a green paper outlining the elements of the new constitution that had been agreed on and a suggested strategy for resolving the issues that had not been agreed on.
According to the attorney general, it would be used as the basis for a campaign to familiarise the public with the proposals and open up an avenue for debate....
Author: Alicia Dunkley
Source: Jamaica Observer
