Reverend Ernle P. Gordon, ContributorI AM in support of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for the following reasons:
I am basically a nationalist and believe that my sovereignty should reside in the Caribbean - Jamaica, not in Europe. Being a Christian, it is my duty to uphold the laws of the country and to pray for the judges but, if you notice, St. Paul was very proud of his Roman heritage and was obedient to that legal process.
It is for this reason that I think that the prayer said to open Parliament should be changed. The New Anglican Prayer Book of the Province of the West Indies has omitted prayers for the Queen and the Royal family. Anglicans did not require a referendum.
It is for this reason also, why I do not agree with the Jamaican Bar Association that there should be a referendum, for two reasons:
a) I think it is an insult to my sovereign pride and intelligence as a Jamaican of African heritage, that I should vote in order to arrive at a position whether or not I should accept an English legal Court. In other words as was written by the late Douglas Hall, in the book entitled, "Patterns of Foreign Influences in the Caribbean", that one of the problems with Jamaicans is that whatever we do, must be authenticated by the European metropole.
b) We run the danger of politicising the CCJ because the last Stone Poll showed that Jamaicans favour the death penalty. There is a perception that the CCJ may lean towards hanging which is not necessarily true because there are some judges and attorneys who do not believe in capital punishment.
The problem is this, that, there may be a link between the CCJ and hanging, which resides in the mind of the Jamaican politically. We might get a yes vote, but, it would be for the wrong reason. Our highest Court of Appeal must be not be subject to that type of political wrangling.
Centrepetal
The CCJ is the centrepetal for the Caribbean single market, and this is not only about sovereignty but about the legal requirements to support and guard our Caribbean economic community.
Let me state that there are some Jamaicans who believe that the Privy Council in Britain will deliver justice par excellence, but I had a problem with a recent decision of the Privy Council. That is, I can now kill my wife or my daughter and say I was under the influence of cocaine. It is for this reason why we need a CCJ because our judges realise how the drug culture is undermining the stability of the Caribbean. The CCJ may have come to the same conclusion as the Privy Council but the Caribbean judges would give an explanation so as to give the wrong signal to drug dons.
I do not believe that our local judges cannot make impartial decisions, because the Jamaican Government lost many cases and decisions taken by the Chief Justice are subject to the scrutiny of the Court of Appeal. This shows that our justice system is healthy.
Let us stop genuflecting to Europeans and Americans. Civilisation is neither coterminous with Americanisation nor Europeanization. (Karl Jasper)
Reverend Ernle P. Gordon is from St. Mary's Rectory.
