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Guyanese lawyers still appear before Privy Council

Jun 24, 2017 News

by Oscar Ramjeet

Although Guyana abolished appeals to the Privy Council since February 1970 when the country became a Republic state, lawyers from the Co-operative Republic continue to appear before the London-based Court.
Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, former Attorney General, has the record for appearing in more cases than any other lawyer in the Commonwealth.
Seenath Jairam, SC who is based in Port of Spain, appeared in a few, and only last Tuesday, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, who practices in Georgetown, appeared in an appeal that originated from the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal.
The twin-island Republic has so far not abolished appeals to the Privy Council, although that government was in the forefront towards the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Jamaica, too, under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, which was spearheading the move for the regional court, has not yet joined the Appellate Jurisdiction of the CCJ.
So far only four countries: Guyana, Barbados, Belize and Dominica, have severed links with the Privy Council. The other jurisdictions, which gained political independence decades ago, still go to the United Kingdom to determine their appeals. St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada have tried, but the electorates have rejected the referenda to join.
I am of the view that if the referenda in those countries were based only on the Privy
Council and the CCJ, the results would have been different, but they were based on other issues. In St. Vincent, the removal of the Queen as Head of State, to be replaced by an Executive President, and in Grenada, to change the country’s name to include Carriacou and Petite Martinique, limiting the period to serve as Prime Minister to three terms, appointing a leader of the opposition from the party getting the second highest number of votes, were issues included
The two big countries, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, are flip flopping – when in opposition advocating for the court and when in power are reluctant.
The JLP administration in Jamaica described the CCJ as the “hanging court,” and the UNC in Trinidad is unsure if they could have full confidence.
Antiguans will hold their referendum early next year to decide. The date has been shifted to allow the electorate to know more about the regional court.

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