Dominica's Skerrit says CARICOM SG Barnett will remain in office pending CCJ opinion
Key Points(5)
- Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he expects CARICOM Secretary-General Dr.
- Carla Barnett to remain in office while the regional grouping awaits an advisory opinion from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the process used for her reappointment.
- Skerrit told a news conference Wednesday that the issue before the 15-member Caribbean Community is not whether Barnett should continue as secretary-general, but whether the procedure used to reappoint her complied with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
- “If my memory serves me right, our decision at CARICOM was that the matter should go to the CCJ and it is not whether she should be the Secretary General, it is whether the process, the procedure was followed in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Skerrit said.
- He said CARICOM leaders agreed to seek clarification from the court in deference to concerns raised by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he expects CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett to remain in office while the regional grouping awaits an advisory opinion from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the process used for her reappointment.
Skerrit told a news conference Wednesday that the issue before the 15-member Caribbean Community is not whether Barnett should continue as secretary-general, but whether the procedure used to reappoint her complied with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
“If my memory serves me right, our decision at CARICOM was that the matter should go to the CCJ and it is not whether she should be the Secretary General, it is whether the process, the procedure was followed in accordance with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,” Skerrit said.
He said CARICOM leaders agreed to seek clarification from the court in deference to concerns raised by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
“So it is more of an interpretation of the process, and we all felt that in deference to the concerns raised by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago that we needed to clarify this matter so that the CCJ would give us an advisory on this,” he said.
Barnett, a Belizean economist and the first woman to serve as CARICOM secretary-general, began her second term this month.
Skerrit said he expects her to continue carrying out her duties while the matter is considered.
“The Secretary General will continue,” he said, stressing that the CCJ is being asked to examine the appointment process rather than determine whether Barnett should hold the position.
CARICOM leaders agreed at their summit in St. Lucia in July to seek an advisory opinion from the Trinidad-based CCJ after Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica raised concerns about the procedure used to reappoint Barnett.
Last month, CARICOM Chairman and St. Lucia Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre met Persad-Bissessar in Port of Spain and provided an update on the issue.
However, the CCJ has said it has not yet received an official request from CARICOM for an advisory opinion.
“While the Court is not yet in receipt of any official request for an Advisory Opinion from CARICOM, it takes note of the information in the public domain that such a request may be forthcoming,” the court said.
The CCJ has also sought to clarify that the advisory process would not be an adversarial or contentious proceeding. Instead, interested parties would be allowed to make submissions before the court provides its legal interpretation of the questions presented by CARICOM.
Once a request is received, the CCJ registrar is required to serve copies on CARICOM member states and the secretary-general within 14 days. Those parties would then have 42 days to make written submissions.
According to the court, an advisory opinion would ordinarily be issued within six months of the hearing.
Skerrit said CARICOM leaders had agreed that a single attorney would present the various submissions to the court rather than having different lawyers representing individual positions.
“This is why we agreed at the heads that we wouldn’t have different lawyers representing different people,” he said.
According to Skerrit, a senior counsel from St. Lucia has been retained and will receive submissions from the various parties before presenting them to the CCJ.
“There are no arguments back and forth. This is what was done to appoint the Secretary General; this is the settled practice. Trinidad will have its own submission, and then he will take that and present it, and then the judges will decide on what is the best process to follow,” Skerrit said.
He said the advisory opinion should ultimately provide clarity for future appointments of CARICOM secretaries-general by establishing how the process should be conducted under the regional treaty.
