Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
DEBATE ON the controversial legislation that will establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its original jurisdiction was stalled in the House of Representatives yesterday.
The delay came after Opposition
members objected on a point of order, stating that the bill was not properly laid before the House.
Opposition Member of Parliament, Delroy Chuck, insisted that the joint select committee, which was appointed to consider the bill, had not signed off on the final draft of the bill.
He said, "Sometime last week, a draft report was circulated to the best of my understanding. On Thursday, the report was tabled in the House and on that report we see only five members of the 16 member committee signing this report."
He argued that the committee did not consider the draft report and as such the report was not properly tabled in the House.
"We need to regularise the procedures before we go into a debate because I find it difficult, Mr. Speaker, to participate in light of the breaches of Parliamentary procedures," Chuck said.
However, Leader of Government Business, Dr. Peter Phillips, said that the bill was properly tabled in the House last week Thursday and that no one had objected to the report.
"I believe, Mr. Speaker, that we should not permit the business of the House to be stymied in a
situation where the matter has been brought in accordance to the Standing Orders before this
committee and where every single member of the committee was aware of the urgency attached to this particular motion,"
he said.
House Speaker, Michael Peart, then asked for a recess to look over the minutes in relation to the joint select committee. But after reconvening, Mr. Peart ruled against the point of order and gave the go ahead for the debate to be continued.
However, this did not go down well with the Opposition and some members walked out of the house in defiance of the
speaker's ruling.
QUICK INTERVENTION
Quick intervention by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson prevented a fallout when he suggested that the bill be referred to the committee to be finalised.
He said: "(There is) no secret of the fact that there is a timetable, which by Treaty obligation approved by this Honourable House, we are required to meet. I repeat, we have a treaty obligation approved by this House in respect of the CSME (CARICOM Single Market and Economy), which requires the establishment of a CCJ in its original jurisdiction."
Mr. Patterson then suggested that the joint select committee meet within 24 hours and make a report to the House by tomorrow. This would enable the House to proceed with the debate on the matter for it to be sent on to the Senate on Friday.
The CCJ, in its original jurisdiction, will come into being on April 16, at a function in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, where the court will be headquartered.
