Cutting the umbilical cord
published: Thursday | March 3, 2005

THE EDITOR, Sir:

NEW ZEALAND cut its colonial umbilical cord from the Privy Council and set up its own Final Court of Appeal. The people of New Zealand are not unhappy with this arrangement. Why can't we emulate rather than attempt to re-invent the wheel? I am sure Jamaica will be happy with a Jamaican Final Appellate Court set up in a transparent fashion with the Judicial Services Commission and the judges requiring a 2/3 majority of both houses of Parliament. The Caribbean Court should be no more than the court of first instance, dealing with matters of commerce and trade.

Given a chance to vote in a referendum, I shall certainly vote against the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice. To quote Professor Emeritus Rex Nettleford: "If we continue to believe that the likes of us cannot dispense justice to ourselves, something is basically wrong. We ought not to be independent."

I am , etc.,

D.W. MCPHERSON

Grove Court

Mandeville