DEBATE ABOUT the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) involves two separate issues. One is that the present system of appeal to the United Kingdom Privy Council may ensure a higher level of impartial justice than would a Caribbean court with judges subject to political pressure.The other issue is that, regardless of where better justice is likely to be found and granting that Caribbean judges are as skilled and will be as impartial as their English counterparts, such grave constitutional principles are involved that they should be put before the Jamaican people in a referendum.
The fundamental rights of people are enshrined in the constitution of the country of which they are citizens. Our constitution established the right of appeal to the UK Privy Council but constitutional rights are not static, they can be changed.
The question is, should such a major change be decided in Parliament by a simple majority vote? Even if technically permissible, taking advantage of a constitutional loophole for political expediency raises moral and ethical concerns. Is use of raw political parliamentary power preferable to consulting the wishes of the people by way of a referendum?
Talk of consultation short of a referendum must be seen for what it is pure sham. Consultation must be a two-way process and until the people vote on clearly defined alternatives the Government has no way of knowing how they truly feel and is guilty of a sin of presumption.
Government has been less than forthright in stating clearly and honestly why it is against a referendum. This in itself is cause for concern because it reinforces a sorry Jamaican political tradition of not trusting the judgment of the people, of feeling that by clever manipulation anything can be forced down their throats. We had hoped that these attitudes were relics of the past.
If the Caribbean Court of Justice is to be established, as we hope it eventually will be, it must receive the blessing of consensus and that legitimacy which in a democracy can only come from reflecting the will of the people.
We support the call of the Jamaica Bar Association, Jamaicans for Justice and the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs for a referendum.
