The leader of the main opposition Barbados Labor Party (BLP), Mia Mottley has dismissed a suggestion by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that if he is re-elected to office in Thursday’s general election, a Democratic Labor Party (DLP) administration will break from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its appellate jurisdiction.
“This is a country that used to be govern by the rule of law, this is a country where we respect the rule of law and we are a country when it came to joining the Caribbean Court of Justice,…Barbados went forward with certainty because drunk or sober, mind your business outside of this island boundary we are one people,” Mottley told a public meeting on Sunday night.
She said Stuart’s statement may have been as a result of a recent ruling by the Trinidad-based CCJ regarding the registration of Commonwealth citizens to be included in the voters list ahead of the May 24 general election.
CCJ ruled against govt
The CCJ, which was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final court, ruled that the Barbados laws regarding the registration of Commonwealth citizens, who have been resident here for more than three years, went were unlawful.
CCJ ruled during its unprecedented sitting two Sundays ago, threatening to jail the Chief Electoral Officer, Angela Taylor, if she failed to obey the ruling.
Stuart, addressing DLP supporters on Saturday night, cited disrespect from the CCJ and the limited number of cases being brought before it for his pending decision.
“I want to say this, Barbados is not going back to the Privy Council because we are not going backward, life goes not backward or tarries with yesterday. But once the Democratic Labor Party is re-elected to office, I am determined, to put Barbados on the same level as every other CARICOM country by de-linking from the Caribbean Court of Justice in its appellate jurisdiction. We went in first and we can come out first,” Stuart said.
“That court had heard two cases for the year, two cases for the year, one from Barbados and one from Guyana,” Stuart said, adding that he wanted to make it clear that he is not commenting on the decisions of the CCJ, noting that as an officer of the court and as a lawyer, he respect the decisions that courts make.
Figures show that last year, the CCJ dealt with 10 cases in the Appellate Jurisdiction from Barbados and in this month it has heard one matter from Barbados and delivered judgement in another.
Barbados, Guyana, Dominica and Belize are the only Caribbean countries that have signed on the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Court that also functions as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-member regional integration movement.
, Mia Mottley has dismissed a suggestion by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that if he is re-elected to office in Thursday’s general election, DLP administration will break from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its appellate jurisdiction.){kind=link}