By Vernon Daley, Parliamentary ReporterOPPOSITION SENATORS yesterday forced a delay of the debate on the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), complaining that some of them had not been provided with the agreement that would establish the court.
They also argued that the document had not been properly tabled in the Senate and, therefore, it would be inappropriate for members to conduct a debate on a matter for which they were not adequately prepared.
The much-anticipated debate, which should have been opened yesterday by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Senator A.J. Nicholson, has been shifted to next Thursday.
"For something like this, that deals with changing the entire judicial system, the document should have been properly laid," Senator Anthony Johnson, Leader of Opposition Business said.
He explained that three Opposition Senators had not received the agreement, though Leader of Government Business, Senator Burchell Whiteman, claimed that the document had been sent out to the contact addresses of all Senators. Senator Whiteman said that copies of the agreement were delivered to Opposition Senators at the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Belmont Road headquarters.
At the last sitting of the Senate, on April 11, Senator Nicholson gave notice of a resolution calling on the Senate to support "the ratification by Jamaica of the agreement to establish the court and urge the expeditious presentation of legislative measures required for its implementation."
At that time, Opposition Senators pointed out that they had not seen the ratification agreement and requested that the Attorney-General supply the document.
They contended yesterday that some of them had still not received the agreement and accused the Government of ignoring the Senate procedures by not tabling the agreement.
"I don't wish anybody to tell me that my agreement has been delivered to Belmont Road. I would have thought that the business would have been properly conducted and laid before us," said Opposition Senator Shirley Williams.
She said she had not received a copy of the agreement and despite numerous attempts to get one, she had been unsuccessful.
Senator Williams was supported by her colleague, Bruce Golding, who said the debate on the CCJ was a matter of crucial national importance and should not be taken lightly.
"While I appreciate that the Leader of Government Business may have been seeking to meet some sort of convenience by sending it to the party head office, with the greatest of respect, Parliament cannot be run by postal service, or even personal delivery!" Senator Golding said.
Senator Whiteman said the reason for sending the document to Senators "was to expedite access to this piece of document." His attempts to press on with the debate were, however, greeted with angry comments from Opposition Senators.
Senator Whiteman subsequently moved for a 10-minute recess to give both sides time to consider the issue. After the break the ratification agreement was formally tabled in the House and Senator Whiteman moved for a suspension of the debate until next Thursday.
Ratification of the agreement by itself will not bring the CCJ into being. Rather, it is a commitment by Jamaica that it will put in place the necessary legislation to implement the agreement.
Local interest groups have come out strongly against the ratification of the agreement, arguing that the CCJ should not replace the UK-based Privy Council as Jamaica's highest court of appeal, without the people having an opportunity to vote on the matter in a referendum.
Barbados, Belize, Guyana, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago have already ratified the agreement.
