BY VERNON DAVIDSON Executive editor — publications davidsonv@jamaicaobserver.com Tuesday, September 29, 2015
THE Rastafari M i l l e n n i u m Council (RMC) says it is opposed to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), arguing that the court system, particularly in Jamaica, needs to be repaired before any thought is given to full participation in the regional entity.
“The justice system here, as reported by the justice minister and others, has one of the worst backlog of cases,” RMC Consultant Maxine Stowe told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
She pointed to her own experience with the estate of her late uncle, Clement ‘Sir Coxone’ Dodd, founder of the famous Studio One, which turned out some of Jamaica’s best recordings and became synonymous with ska, rocksteady and reggae. Dodd died in May 2004.
“It’s been 11 years, and at least three family members have already died, so I have no confidence at all,” Stowe said. Inaugurated in Trinidad in April 2005, the CCJ has two jurisdictions — original and appellate.
Except for The Bahamas, Montserrat and Haiti, all Caricom countries subscribe to the court’s original jurisdiction.
However, only Barbados, Belize, Guyana, and Dominica have so far acceded to its appellate jurisdiction, which replaces the Privy Council in England as the final appeal court.
Joining the court’s appellate arm has proven controversial, particularly in Jamaica where proponents argue that the Privy Council represents one of the last vestiges of slavery, and that the judges in England have signalled that they want us to leave.
But opponents of the move say that any such decision should be made in a referendum, and some have raised fear that the CCJ will be subjected to political interference. more
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