‘There is no alternative to the CCJ’, says Golding

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Opposition Leader Mark Golding is doubling down on his call for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to become the country’s final appellate court, arguing that there is no alternative.

Golding, in a statement on Wednesday, pushed back at claims by Justice Minister Delroy Chuck that the Opposition is using accession to the CCJ as a tactic to delay constitutional reform.

But Golding said the Opposition is calling for a move toward republican status and accession to the CCJ together.

“Ever since their former leader, Edward Seaga, in 2003, pronounced that "for the JLP, the Privy Council as the Final Court of Appeal is paramount", they have devised and placed stumbling blocks in the way of Jamaica transitioning to the affordable CCJ,” Golding argued.

According to Golding, lately there has been public proposal of a preference for a local final appellate court. However, he said there is a challenge of affordability and the lack of interference in the justice system by powerful pressures.

“Weighing irrefutably against the creation of a local final court is, first, the challenge of affordability. In Jamaica's case, for example, how is a state-of-the-art edifice to be constructed and maintained to international standards, when even the Parish Courts islandwide are decrepit museum pieces? Not to mention the compensation arrangements and amenities required for an apex court,” the opposition leader said.

“Second, even if the affordability hurdle were miraculously overcome, no government can persuade our citizens that it will acceptably insulate this small Caribbean state’s final court from powerful pressures within our. The JLP leadership needs to come to terms with the fact that, politically and developmentally, there is no alternative to the CCJ,” he added.