By Vernon Daley, Staff ReporterATTORNEY-GENERAL A.J. Nicholson says the time has now come for the country to bury the idea of a referendum on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
At the same time, he insists that the funding arrangements are now in place to ensure the CCJ is not starved of resources when it begins to sit next year.
Mr. Nicholson, who is also Minister of Justice, told journalists yesterday that the administration had set its face firmly against a vote on the controversial court. He suggested that the Government was now beyond the point where it could be swayed by those who advocate a referendum to determine whether the country should replace the United Kingdom-based Privy Council with the CCJ as the country's final court of appeal.
"It is time that we bury this notion (of a referendum)," Mr. Nicholson said.
NO PRECEDENCE AMONG FORMER COLONIES
Apart from legal and constitutional hurdles which, he said, would hamper a referendum, the Attorney-General also expressed fears that the exercise would be consumed by politicking. He added that none of the 34 former colonies of Britain which have withdrawn from the Privy Council, did so through the route of a referendum.
"There are several reasons for this. A referendum is a general election and a political exercise and those countries did not wish the judiciary or any arm of the judiciary to be fodder for political platforms and campaigns," he said.
A referendum, he declared, would likely be partisan, political in nature and would fuel division within the society rather than unite Jamaicans around a single cause.
With a referendum projected to cost between $350 million and $400 million, Mr. Nicholson suggested that such resources would be better spent fixing up local courts.
"Some of the very persons who have been lobbying for a referendum have also been saying we should fix the courts. Which would you prefer, to spend $400 million on a referendum or give the Minister of Justice $400 million to fix up the courts?" he asked.
LEGISLATION BY END OF SEPTEMBER
The Justice Minister added that it was foolhardy to retain appeals to the Privy Council because the UK Government could decide any time it wants to stop the court hearing cases from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands.
Legislation to replace the Privy Council with the CCJ is expected before Parliament within a month after it resumes its sitting in September. This signals the determination of the P.J. Patterson-led administration to press ahead with the court without a referendum.
Mr. Patterson has consistently rejected the calls for a vote, arguing that the Constitution only requires a simple majority in Parliament to abolish appeals to the Privy Council.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General yesterday released information dealing with the projected cost of the CCJ. In its first year of operation, the court will cost about US$5.6 million. Of this amount some US$1.5 million will go towards paying the salaries of judges.
Capital costs, including estimates for computers, library materials, and vehicles have been calculated at US$1.8 for the year while recurrent costs, have been put at US$3.8 million.
