WILL CCJ MAKE A SURPRISING RULING NEXT MONTH?

Apr 24, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Both the APNU/AFC government and the opposition PPP/C are optimistic that the CCJ – the Caribbean Court of Justice, will rule in their favour as regards to the no confidence motion which was passed in Parliament on December 21, 2018 on a 33-32 vote in favour of the Opposition after a government lawmaker, Charrandass Persaud, jumped ship and voted in favour of the PPP/C motion. The Court will either rule that the Motion was properly passed or not. The ruling will decide if the government can continue in office until May next year or they have to demit office immediately and put the election machinery in motion.
I will not be surprised if the highest court of the land dismissed the appeals and ruled that the Guyana Court of Appeal’s decision is correct. The CCJ is a comparatively new court – only 14 years in existence, but the President Adrian Saunders of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a highly respectable jurist who was with the Court from the inception, Jacob Wit (Holland), David Hayton (UK) Winston Anderson (Jamaica), Maureen Ragnauth-Lee (Trinidad and Tobago), Denys Barrow (Belize) and Andrew Burgess (Barbados) are all competent jurists. There is no Guyanese in the current panel. They were two Judges, Desiree Bernard and Duke Pollard who served from the inception, but they have reached the retirement age of 75 and no longer with the court. Two outstanding Presidents, Michael La Bastide and Denis Byron have also retired.
Both parties have retained the best legal brains in the region to argue their case. The PPP/C has chosen an experienced Trinidadian jurist, Senior Counsel Douglas Mentis, who recently successfully argued an appeal on behalf of the St. Vincent government in an election petition case, while the APNU/AFC has chosen lawyer/politician, Eamon Courtenay, SC who has the most appearances before the CCJ than any other legal practitioner. Courtenay of Belize also has the most successes – many of his cases were against the government of Belize. He also served as Foreign Affair Minister of his country. The Granger administration gave Courtenay the nod no doubt because of his numerous successes in the regional court, despite the fact that the two Barbadian Queens Counsel, Hal Gallop and Ralph Thorne won the two term appeal which prevents Bharat Jagdeo from running for a third term. The new Solicitor General, Nigel Hawke, appeared several times before the CCJ and I have no doubt that he will assist Courtenay who he knows very well while he served in Belize, a few times he was opposing Counsel to the Belizian Senior Counsel.
The issue before the CCJ is whether the Motion was validly passed by a 33-32 majority — the government arguing that 34 votes are required for an absolute majority while the opposition is contending that 33 votes were enough. Another issue is whether Charrandass Persaud who voted in favour of the opposition could have properly voted since he was/is a Canadian citizen. I am a strong advocate for the regional court and have been supporting the CCJ long before its inauguration. I have written numerous articles and letters urging governments in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who have not yet abolished appeals to the Privy Council to do so as quickly as possible. However, there is resistance/reluctance since some feel that the regional judges might be too familiar with the local lawyers and litigants and might not do justice … they prefer the “white men” in far away England to be the judges. I should mention that Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, QC. who appeared in the Privy Council more than any other lawyer in the Commonwealth prefers the London based Court. It is unfortunate that they entertain such immature and racial thought especially since the CCJ has an impeccable record. I must add here that Jamaica and Trinidad which were in the forefront on the establishment of the CCJ has not yet joined the appellate division of the court and referendum failed in three jurisdictions, Grenada (twice), St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica in bids to abolish appeals from the Privy Council in order to make the CCJ the final court.
May 10 is scheduled for the hearing and with skeleton arguments submitted or soon will be filed I do not think the duration of the appeal will be long and a decision will be made shortly after.

Oscar Ramjeet

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