Public confidence and trust in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), remains at an all-time low. Only four of the participating members of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) establishing the Caribbean Community and the agreement for the operation of the CCJ, acceded to the appellate jurisdiction of this Court.
Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and Guyana are the full participating members. Across the Region, CARICOM nationals have strongly rejected attempts by their governments to accede to the appeals Jurisdiction of the CCJ. On November 6, 2018, citizens of Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda, overwhelmingly expressed their distrust in the Adrian Saunders-led CCJ.
The problem of public trust and confidence in the Court further depleted across the Region because of the Court’s majority rulings in the Guyana elections standoff post-March 2020. The much-contested elections surrounded allegations of widespread electoral fraud and interpretation of several laws, which are similar in most cases in other CARICOM states.
In the final analysis, the Saunders-led Court instructed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to count (all votes) including those that were found to be fraudulently cast by a CARICOM scrutinizing team. The votes tabulated, despite being tainted on the surface, were the basis upon which, the PPP regime, led by Irfaan Ali was installed into government by a majority vote of the CCJ.
This majority approach sent a shockwave across CARICOM, especially considering that Justice Winston Anderson, in a treaty extensively cited by the Court in previous writings, had clarified the role and extent of the CCJ in election cases in Guyana. Justice Anderson was rescued from hearing the case to allow the majority verdict to pave the way for the installation of the Ali government.
Dr. Derek Obrien, of Oxford Brookes University, and a Caribbean Correspondent for the UKCLA (United Kingdom Constitutional Law Association), wrote that “Crucially, the failure may signal the beginning of the end of the CCJ. The only lifeline may lie with the Privy Council refusing to hear appeals from the region, which is unlikely to be forthcoming.”
With the aid of the Saunders-led CCJ, the field was ripe for the PPP harvest, and the labourers in Guyana’s vineyard were the target. Career Public Servants were dismissed, demoted, and even recalled from crucial foreign missions. Several unqualified, inexperienced, and untrained members of the PPP party were installed in these positions. Recently, Clifton Hicken, one of the most junior members of the Guyana Police Force senior rank, was installed as Commissioner of Police, a reality that the Government vow would not change until his retirement.
More, In The Ring.
