Future of the CCJ?

Commentary: What is the future of the Caribbean Court of Justice?
By Oscar Ramjeet
Published on Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Source : Caribbean Net News
Print Version

It seems to me that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which was on the back-burner for more than three years is no longer there, since it has been completely removed from the stove and is tucked away in some corner. At least the leaders of Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines are more concerned about OECS unity with the twin island republic, than to initiate steps to remove the Privy Council as the final court.

One wonders why so much time is being spent by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning to jet to Jamaica, Bahamas, Belize and OECS to sensitise the leaders on his wider OECS initiative rather than to move to join the CCJ as the final court and encourage the OECS states to do likewise. Moreover, more attention is being paid on the implications of the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) as to whether or not Caribbean countries should sign.

It was Trinidad and Tobago as well as Jamaica, the two largest Engllish speaking countries in the region, which were in the forefront for the regional court and both countries now seem to have little or no interest.

I recall in 1990, while I was Solicitor General of St VIncent and the Grenadines, the late Selwyn Richardson, who was the Attorney General of the twin island republic, and Bryn Pollard, former Legal Advisor to CARICOM, journeyed to St Vncent and the Grenadines to woo the James Mitchell government to join the court.

Now, after nearly 18 years, only two countries, Barbados and Guyana, enjoy the benefits of the Appellate Division of the CCJ.

Why? Is it that the governments are reluctant to take steps to put the mechanism in place to remove the Privy Council as the final court, be it by way of referenda or two thirds or three-fourths of parliamentary votes as the case may be, or they do not want to confront the electorates?

It seems to me that the governments will have to woo the opposition to support the move, but they are hesitant to do so. It should be noted that there have been changes in the administration of most countries in the region since the idea of setting up of the court was conceived.

Besides David Thompson of Barbados, there are at least four other Prime Ministers who are lawyers, Herbert Ingraham of Bahamas, Ralph Gonsalves of St VIncent and the Grenadnes and the two new leaders, Dean Barrow of Belize and Tillman Thomas of Grenada, and they should work assidiously to rid the Privy Council as the final court. The region does not only need political independence, but it is high time the Caribbean adopt a parochial approach to the development of Caribbean jurisprudence.

Caribbean jurisprudence and its promotion is not just about civil and criminal disputes and matters of public law, but the CCJ also exercises an original jurisdiction since the court is charged with the resolving disputes between Caribbean countries that are parties to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

The Jamaica Labour Party was in government when the idea was mooted for the CCJ and they are back in power after more than a fifteen years and they are not taking taking steps to do so. Mr Manning is now busy switching his attention to greater heights, maybe to be the leader for the wider OECS, and is not pushing for his country to join the CCJ, although the regional court is based in Port of Spain.

The Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica-born Justin Simon is advocating a joint referendum of the OECS states to determine if they should adopt the appellate jurisdiction. But this cannot be done since a decision has to be taken by each country. It might be a good idea for Simon to advise his Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer, who is now the Chairman of Caricom, to try to convince member states to join, and perhaps try to woo the Prime Minister of the country of his birth to do likewise.

In fact, Spencer told an interviewer on Observer Radio's Voice in Antigua that he does not think Antigua and Barbuda is entirely opposed to the Manning initiative. He added, "Our level of functional cooperation in the OECS is very, very high and good. As a matter of fact we have been applauded all over the world for what we have been able to accomplish at that level."

The CCJ was inaugurated in April 2005, more than three years and three months ago, with only two countries joinng, Barbados and Guyana, and there is no indication of any other 10 countries are taking steps to do so.

Besides the experienced and well qualified judges, the CCJ has an excellent support staff and top class facilties where audio files of court proceedings can be obtained hours after.

It is very unfortunate that the remaining 10 countries are not making use of the full facilities of the court, despite calls from several quarters, including the president of the CCJ, for the other countries to join, since the court is being under utililized.

I have written several articles about the CCJ, and even suggested that the authorities consider a lobbyist, perhaps an influential regionalist like Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary General, to woo the governments as well as the opposition parties to accept the CCJ as the final court of appeal in the region.

Cross- Purposes in the Caribbean

The Caribbean Pulling in different directions
Published: Jamaica Gleaner
Sunday September 7, 2008
Robert Buddan - POLITICS OF OUR TIME

Regionalists are confused. CARICOM leaders are supposed to be charting our future direction in a world of overlapping crises - climate change, energy, food, poverty, crime, HIV/AIDS, and unequal trade.

But, over the last year, the directions in which CARICOM governments have been taking us are conflicting and confusing. The Big Four - Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana - have failed to provide clear leadership in these troubled times.
Take these examples.

Barbados and Guyana have joined the Caribbean Court of Justice. Jamaica and Trinidad have not.

Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad want to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe. Guyana does not.

Trinidad wants a political union with the rest of the Caribbean. Jamaica and Guyana will not join.
Jamaica and Guyana have joined PetroCaribe but Trinidad and Barbados have not.

Cross-purposes

Rather than overlapping ambitions, CARICOM's Big Four are at cross-purposes.

Worse, the CARICOM project has been put aside. We have spent the past year consumed with the EPA rather than building CARICOM's structures.

The CCJ seems to be in abeyance. There is no new hope of a CARICOM Commission. The single market and economy (CSME) deadline has been put back to 2015.

One would think it makes good sense for CARICOM to deepen its own structures of political, judicial and economic unity before opening up the region to the global forces represented, say, by the EPA, forces whose benefit to the Caribbean are uncertain. We are doing the reverse.

Productive assets

We have the assets to do better as a region. Tourism, mining, oil, agriculture and manufacturing are valuable assets that the Big Four have. When we look to extra-CARICOM agreements like the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the EPA, it is because we have failed to bring these assets together.

Market access is important, but productive assets must be developed, and must be developed for our mutual benefit.

What is even more dangerous is when these extra-regional agreements undermine CARICOM.
The CBI was as much an ideological alliance that used trade preferences to divide CARICOM along Cold War ideological lines.

Now, the EPA divides the ACP and gives Europe the power to make trade rules for CARICOM.
For example, it undermines the two-year CARICOM single market and, as Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana says, fixes CARICOM's trade policy for decades to come with very little flexibility for our own management.

It is ironic that the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) should have made regional trade negotiations largely redundant and the RNM symbolic.

Jagdeo says that the EPA has altered CARICOM's foreign trade policy by compelling the region to offer the United States and Canada similar trade agreements to the EPA.

It has also locked the Caribbean into giving Europe any preferences that we give to our fellow developing countries like China, India and Brazil.

THE 'LITTLE EIGHT'

The members of the 'Little Eight' have sought their own salvation both within and outside of CARICOM.

But they, too, have been at cross-purposes. Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the countries of the Bolivarian Alternative of Latin America (ALBA) - Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras.

Dominica subsequently joined ALBA. The Big Four have either not signed the MoU (Jamaica and Guyana) or not even signed on to PetroCaribe (Barbados and Trinidad).

Some of the 'Little Eight' countries say they will not sign the EPA in its current form (Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent, and Dominica), joining Guyana on this score, while most of the Big Four (Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados) say they will.

THREE DIRECTIONS

The latest regional scheme has also seen the same cross-purpose. Trinidad's MoU for political unity includes Grenada, Dominica, and St Vincent, but other countries are either taking a wait-and-see approach or have rejected the entreaty to join.

There are three discernible directions in which CARICOM is pulling at the same time. The Golding administration is leading the region down the path of a model of European trade and investment liberalisation that Guyana and others reject.

Trinidad is leading the region towards some appropriate form of political unity that Jamaica and Guyana are aloof to.

Guyana is charting a course of agricultural leadership under the Jagdeo initiative that the rest of the region gives little real support.

The Guyanese and Trinidad initiatives are driven from within CARICOM, while the Jamaican venture is driven by Europe. Furthermore, the first two initiatives are relevant to, and in fact, designed as responses to the global crises of energy, food and climate change.

The Euro-Jamaican venture is exactly what those initiatives are designed to mitigate. Guyana's strong objection is based on the threat to the food security of the region posed by potential European takeover of the Caribbean food market, which will increase the region's food dependency.

Regional agriculture

In 2003, Guyana took the initiative to move CARICOM's Caribbean Agricultural Policy forward, which the Heads of Government of CARICOM endorsed in 2004. Jagdeo is the CARICOM Head of Government with lead responsibility for regional agriculture.

His plan was to allow the region to achieve a reasonable level of food security in normal times and during disasters like hurricanes. The plan was also to raise the profile of sustainable agriculture and rural development in the construction of the CSME.

It was a response to the threat to the region's agriculture, particularly rice, sugar, and bananas, arising from EU/WTO trade reforms.

Finally, it sought to save foreign exchange spent on food imports, now some US$3 billion each year, but which will jump with the recent price increases, while earning foreign exchange from food that we could export. No one quarrelled with any of this.

The EPA and CARICOM

Jagdeo says that the EPA will allow Europe to flood our food markets further. The EPA also overrides regional integration and CARICOM's authority on trade.

Once the EPA is signed, CARICOM cannot enter into any trade agreement that impacts on the EPA without the approval of Europe. CARICOM could hardly then describe itself as a community of sovereign states, since those states are signing away their external trade sovereignty.

The EPA also divides integration partners into separate and competing trading countries. This leads to further splits in CARICOM's directions. The EPA will undermine the CSME. Guyana will probably stay with the ACP to negotiate a better deal with Europe, while Jamaica and others lock themselves into the EPA.

CARICOM countries are going in different directions and the region needs leadership that can recreate the consensus that has been lost.

Under P.J. Patterson's influence, for instance, the emphasis had been on building CARICOM institutions and deepening integration. Current leaders must search for new consensus on what the priorities should be.

To me, it must be on continuing to build the foundations for a more effective CARICOM capable of addressing the crises of climate change, food dependency, energy dependence, crime, HIV/AIDS, poverty and democracy.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.

No renegotiation of EPA with Europe

EPA talks will not consider renegotiation, says Barbados PM
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Source: BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC)

Barbados' Prime Minister David Thompson has made it clear that Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders will not be looking to renegotiate the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe at their special meeting here next week.

He told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that it is already too late to consider reworking the trade deal, and the focus of the September 10 talks, which he requested in a letter to Caricom Chairman Baldwin Spencer, will be on reaching a common position on the agreement.

"Renegotiation is not on the cards. The point is that I can't think there is anybody who believes it's a perfect agreement. Barbados has not said and we are not about to say that EPA is perfect, but we think that it's something we can work with and that, in the circumstances, it is the best that could have been achieved in the negotiations which took over three years," Thompson said.

"I can't believe that anybody could think, and I said so in my letter to the chairman of Caricom, that you can renegotiate in three weeks what experienced, knowledgeable negotiators took three years to come up with."

Guyana has been the most vocal government against the EPA, with President Bharrat Jagdeo insisting that the region will be left with a bad deal if countries sign on. Grenada and St Lucia have also expressed reservations, while the leaders of Barbados, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines have made it clear they were ready and willing to sign.

Prime Minister Thompson told CMC he is optimistic that despite the current inconsistencies, the leaders will eventually find a united position.

"What we can't afford is a scenario similar to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)," Thompson said, referring to the fact that only two Caribbean countries - Barbados and Guyana - have made the CCJ their final appellate court.

"Certainly Barbados is not going to be going along with any arrangement in which only two or three participants are serious about going ahead.

"On this occasion we must be serious as people of the Caribbean and I took the unprecedented step of writing to the chairman of Caricom because I felt that what was happening in our region actually was very embarrassing with all these discordant view points, coming from heads who just months ago met in Antigua and discussed the EPA and other issues," Thompson added

Trinidad's PM pushes for Union with OECS

Mr Manning's push for a political union

Source: Jamaica Observer
Tuesday, September 02, 2008

A few weeks ago Professor Vaughan Lewis, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of the West Indies' St Augustine campus, advised member countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to move out of their comfort zone and find new partners and arrangements in order to survive in the present global environment.

The Caribbean Media Corporation reported Professor Lewis as saying that it was becoming increasingly clear that the eastern Caribbean islands could no longer stand on their own in light of the economic, security and transportation challenges facing them.

Professor Lewis' advice was no doubt influenced by his assignment from the governments of St Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago to prepare a study - in collaboration with Trinidad and Tobago diplomat Dr Cuthbert Joseph - on a possible political union among these countries.

In an apparent effort to bolster this proposed union, Prime Minister Patrick Manning has committed Trinidad & Tobago to joining the OECS by 2011 which, itself, raises questions.

As far as we are aware, Mr Manning has no mandate from the people of his country to include Trinidad & Tobago in any such arrangement.

In fact, Mr Manning, we are told, did not place the idea of a political union or OECS membership on his platform in the last election and as such is now being flayed in his country for what appears to be a personal adventure, the structure of which he is yet to share with his country.

Having not consulted his employers, Mr Manning, we believe, may find it difficult to convince the people of Trinidad and Tobago to give up their currency for the Eastern Caribbean dollar and subject themselves to the OECS' judicial system, as well as any other arrangement required for OECS membership.

But Mr Manning's larger challenge in forging a political union will lie in the inability of the region's leaders to deliver on some of the co-operation agreements made in previous years, a point that was clearly highlighted by senior Caribbean journalist Mr Rickey Singh in his Sunday Observer column this week.

Mr Singh pointed to the fact that Caribbean Community leaders have not been able to get their act together to advance arrangements for a Caribbean Single Market and Economy by 2015.

He also drew attention to the reality that, except for Barbados and Guyana, Caricom member states have failed to abolish the Privy Council in preference for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their court of last resort, even as they spend taxpayers' money to keep the CCJ functional.

That failure has resulted in even more scepticism of Prime Minister Manning's initiative, given that the CCJ sits in Port-of-Spain.

Added Mr Singh: "The region's people are being kept largely in the dark about the defaults by politicians and technocrats that have resulted, to date, in delivering only about one-third of approximately 330 of the required "implementation actions" to make a reality of the single economy."

Given that scenario, probably Mr Manning and his counterparts in St Lucia, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines would do better to expend their energies on strengthening Caricom as a viable integration movement that can better serve and protect the interests of the region's peoples.

The Poltical Union dance

This political union dance

Manning goes on defensive after "flying consultations"
Source: Jamaica Observer

RICKY SINGH

Publication date: Sunday, August 31, 2008

As Prime Minister Patrick Manning spearheads official celebratory activities marking today's 46th Independence anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago, he would most likely be quietly reflecting on the clear disinterest by some of his Caribbean Community colleagues in any form of regional political integration.In his assumed high-profile jet-shuttle initiatives to spread the message in favour of regional and political integration, to which his government and three others in the Eastern Caribbean have committed themselves, in principle, Manning returned home last week knowing that, at best, he could count a so-called "coalition of the willing" on just one hand.

More likely perhaps no more than three. They would include his colleagues from St Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves) and Grenada (Tilman Thomas). St Lucia's Prime Minister, Stephenson King, had participated in the August 14 meeting in Port-of-Spain hosted and chaired by Manning but it is doubtful that, given the precarious nature of his administration, he could be considered a serious partner in a political union initiative with Trinidad and Tobago.

Neither Haiti nor Suriname, with their different political history and culture was ever viewed as potential allies in a political integration process-except in a distant long term.

For its part, The Bahamas has remained under successive governments on the periphery of Caricom. It operates more as a partner in functional cooperation, with limited interest in the single market, but no interest in the single-economy dimension.

The two countries whose new governments are also yet to commit themselves in any serious way to the creation of Caricom's single economy, are Jamaica (under the leadership of Prime Minister Bruce Golding) and Belize (led by Prime Minister Dean Barrow). It was, therefore, quite puzzling that Manning should have extended his jet-flying visits to meet with his counterparts in Kingston and Belmopan. The situation became less puzzling when he finally felt obliged to explain why he had included Haiti, Suriname and The Bahamas in the process.

After much criticism by political opponents and comments in the region's media, the result of a poor, if not contemptuous effort to communicate with the public, Manning was doing some explaining late last week.

He had extended, out of courtesy, his "consultations" with Caricom counterparts outside of the trio of OECS heads of government that had signed with him a "Joint Declaration" (the text remained a secret at the time of writing) on regional economic and political integration. He never requested ANYONE, he insists, to join the Port-of-Spain initiative by four prime ministers for a limited political union projected for 2013.

JAMAICA AND BELIZE

Those who were aware of the disinterest by both Jamaica's Golding and Belize's Barrow in any form of political union, should now be more concerned in ascertaining the extent of the commitment of both to encouraging the transformation of Caricom into a seamless regional economy.

Such a course would, inevitably, involve a more centrally driven governance system, located in a proposed Single Caricom Act, and realised with a new administrative mechanism armed with executive authority to ensure effective management of the Community's affairs.

In the present circumstances, a Community whose members cannot get their acts together to advance arrangements for a single economy by 2015; nor (except for Barbados and Guyana) abolish the Privy Council in preference for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their court of last resort, seem to be "spinning top in mud", to borrow an expression of our Trini cousins, with the flow of "talks" about even a limited political union by 2013.

These days we are being exposed to strong negative vibes about the future of a once enthusiastically promised CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy), the target dates for which have kept shifting and remains elusive, even as the political rhetoric continues to capture headlines.

The region's people are being kept largely in the dark about the defaults by politicians and technocrats that have resulted, to date, in delivering only about one-third of approximately 330 of required "implementation actions" to make a reality of the single economy.

In relation to the CCJ, all of our governments dutifully spend taxpayers' money annually to maintain but, shockingly, they fail to have it as their final court. Now, the new game in town is prime minister Manning's jetting around to talk about limited forms of economic and political union, without any road map made known publicly on the steps towards such a goal; and no move to promote national consultations on this vital issue.

Little wonder the deepening disenchantment and cynicism about Caricom's future as the viable economic integration movement which it was conceptualised and launched to be by its visionary architects.

FIX CARICOM -

FIX CARICOM: That's the problem

Web Posted - Wed Aug 27 2008

BY Sir Ronald Sanders

Source: Barbados Advocate

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=36606

FOUR Caribbean leaders signed a Joint Declaration on August 14 in Trinidad to achieve the Single Economy by 2011 and appropriate Political Integration by 2013 in the Caribbean Community.

Just how the four leaders plan to accomplish these two feats is unclear, particularly as the only governments they could commit were their own; they could not speak for the other eleven governments of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).

The four leaders were Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, Tillman Thomas of Grenada, Stephenson King of St Lucia and Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Manning did invite the President of Guyana, Bharat Jagdeo, and the Prime Minister of Barbados, David Thompson, to the meeting but they declined, sending their foreign ministers instead. Significantly, neither of the two foreign Ministers signed the Declaration, not even as observers.

However, the Barbados foreign minister let his government's position be known at a press conference on August 20th. He said Barbados' major responsibility is the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy by 2015 (to which governments have already agreed) and he wished any other union well. In other words, Barbados has no interest in being part of the Trinidad Declaration.

The government of Guyana has said absolutely nothing. Its silence can be interpreted as a lack of interest.

The Jamaica government was quick to state that while it respects their right to establish a political union, the decision by the four leaders has implications for the structure and, indeed, the future of CARICOM and a request would be made for the issue to be brought for discussions at the highest level of CARICOM.

The Jamaican concerns are shared by others. Among the governments that would be concerned are the Bahamas, and Suriname, who were not invited to the meeting and who had to be as surprised as anyone else to learn of the Trinidad Declaration by way of the media.

Three member governments of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Kitts-Nevis which were also not invited to the meeting, would be particularly concerned because one of the objectives, as revealed by Manning, is to bring them into the arrangement of a Single Economy by 2011 and appropriate political integration by 2013. They would be right in feeling that they ought to have been consulted, before the Declaration was made.

Manning and Tillman tried to involve these three OECS members after the fact by flying into their countries to try to explain the Declaration. However, if the OECS countries are to join a single economy and appropriate political integration with Trinidad and Tobago, surely such a major undertaking ought to have been discussed by the OECS first and with the benefit of technical studies that would advise any decision that the leaders might make.

In the Declaration, the four signatory states undertook to move beyond the characterisation of CARICOM as being a grouping of sovereign states. This suggests that they want to move CARICOM into a single sovereign entity, a political community of some kind. However, that decision could not possibly be made by four member states without the concurrence of the other eleven countries.

The motivation for the initiative by the four, as contained in the Trinidad Declaration, is that they recognise the imperatives of responding in a more immediate manner to increasing changes in the international economic and political environment and the consequent need for the urgent re-organisation of our economies and governance arrangements for enhancing our development and beneficial integration into the global economy. The motivation is understandable and so is the action that is contemplated.

However, CARICOM does not now have effective governance arrangements because Heads of Government, with a few notable exceptions, such as Gonsalves and Manning, have refused to put in place a Caribbean Commission which would act as a supranational organ to implement decisions and be responsible for implementing policies for all member states in areas such as the Single Market, trade negotiations and crime and security.

So if CARICOM cannot respond in a more immediate manner to the grave challenges that confront its member states individually and collectively, it is because Caribbean leaders have refused to move, as the countries of the European Union (EU) did, to establish a Commission vested with authority in critical areas and by enforceable law to oversee and implement Community policies.

There is a continuing refusal to accept that sovereignty of individual Caribbean countries is merely notional. And, clinging on to the unrealistic notion instead of realistically pooling their sovereignty does nothing but retard their prospects for any semblance of economic and political autonomy in a highly competitive world.

The four countries will get nowhere with the vague objective of appropriate political integration by 2013 in the Caribbean community. Not because Jamaica will not accept it; none of the others will either. The word appropriate is pregnant with problems. What would be appropriate political integration? A federal system of government, a unitary community in which all previous sovereignties are merged, or just a set or agreements, enforceable by law, to co-operate in specific areas?

The frustration of the four leaders and their desire to do something to speed up change in CARICOM is understandable. But, it is very doubtful that this initiative in its present form will move forward. Even if the four decided to construct their own single economy (which would be a third circle of single economies after the CSME and the OECS Economic Union) achieving it would be difficult, and would break-up the OECS for the countries would have to choose between the EC dollar and the Trinidad dollar. Trinidad is unlikely to choose the EC dollar which would mean revaluing its currency and making its exports more expensive.

Of course, the four countries could opt to leave both CARICOM and the OECS to do their own thing. But that would be the worse of all worlds. CARICOM's governance is the problem. They should fix it, not construct another weak institution.

(The writer is a business consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.)

Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com.

JAMAICA NOT PART OF THE MOU

Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines sign MoU
Tuesday, August 26 2008 @ 06:00 AM AST

Source:Breaking News - http://news.bn.gs/article.php?story=20080826003453808

Four regional Prime Ministers sign a Memorandum of Understanding last Thursday at The Diplomatic Centre, Prime Minister’s Residence, St Ann’s, pledging to establish a political and economic union among their countries. (L-R) Prime Ministers of Grenada, Tillman Thomas; ;Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning; St Lucia, Stephenson King and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

Failed FEDERATION:

In 1962, one country, Jamaica, withdrew from a budding West Indian Federation, inevitably leading to its collapse.“One from ten leaves nought,” was the prophetic declaration by T&T’s then Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams.With T&T following Jamaica’s lead, the initiative established just four years before, was history.The Federation was established by the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956 with the aim of executing a political union among its members.It comprised ten territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica (to which were attached the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands as dependencies), Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (present day Saint Kitts and Nevis and Anguilla), Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and T&T.

Patrick Manning, Prime Minister, profound integrationist. That was how Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, described T&T’s leader last week as four regional prime ministers talked about Caribbean unification.

Manning is attempting to resuscitate this initiative, which began in 1958 with the formation of the West Indian Federation which ended four years later.The announcement was made last Thursday at a meeting at the Diplomatic Centre, Prime Minister’s Residence, St Anns.Manning has already courted the prime ministers of Grenada, Tillman Thomas; St Lucia, Stephenson King and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Gonsalves.

The four prime ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding backing Manning’s ambitious plan: to establish a Caribbean Single Economy (CSE) x modeled after the European Union (EU) by 2011 and to have political integration by 2013.By 2011, he will still be T&T’s elected leader and quite possibly the CSE’s champion.

Political journalist, Ricky Singh, said the announcement could be viewed with a “wide yawn.“Needless to say, none of the quartet that commendably favours regional political unity is known to have a national mandate to pursue political union in any form - confederation, federation, unitary state or else,” he said.

Is the time right for the Caribbean to be regionally integrated, politically and economically?

The “dust has cleared” from regional elections over the past year with new leaders being elected in Jamaica (Bruce Golding), Barbados (David Thompson) and Grenada (Thomas). Gonsalves has been in power since 2001 and King since 2005.“It is clear for the first time that we have leaders in the Caribbean who want to commit to political integration as opposed to anything else,” said Manning.

Asked government’s view on Jamaica, which would not agree to a political union in Caricom, Manning said:“We said that we don’t think that we will get to Caricom economic integration by 2015 in the form in which we want it to.”

Manning added that the issue was not just with Jamaica, but “several other countries.”Gonsalves noted that while some people may have “integration fatigue” it does not diminish the nobility of the cause.But the cause, 46 years in the making, is loosing the lusture of its nobility.

In 2003, Manning began looking at options to enhance regional integration. A consultation on Options for Governance to Deepen the Integration Process was held in T&T in February 13, 2003. This consultation yielded several recommendations which were considered by the 14th inter-sessional meeting of Caricom Heads of Government.

A major recommendation called for the establishment of institutions required to accelerate the pace of integration, in particular a Caricom Commission-type arrangement as proposed by the West Indian Commission in 1992. An expert group, chaired by Gonsalves, was established to make a proposal on how best to deepen relations.Manning’s announcement comes at a time when regional integration appears to have stalled somewhat as islands pursue their own nationalistic agendas. Caricom, one commentator noted, is little more than a “community of sovereign states.”

In June, Gonsalves said Caricom would soon be forced to transform itself from “a ramshackle political-administrative apparatus” that allows “several of its member states (to) jealously guard a vaunted and pristine sovereignty.”He blamed the “politics of a limited regional engagement in Jamaica, shackled by the ghosts from the Federal referendum; the politics of ethnicity in T&T and Guyana; a mistaken sense of uniqueness and separation among large sections of the Barbadian populace; the peculiar distinctiveness of Haiti and Suriname; and the cultivated aloofness from the regional enterprise by the Bahamas” for the present situation.

He said the realisation of a common monetary policy for Caricom, similar to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and an integrated judiciary, is a distant dream as well.Manning said T&T “could not stay aloof” from the OECS countries as they make steps toward establishing a single economy.

Eric Williams, at the first meeting of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth Caribbean, held in T&T in 1963:“Small countries like ours encounter great difficulty in establishing their influence in the world dominated by power and regional associations. This general difficulty is aggravated in our case by centuries of subordination to outside control which has given rise to a view not uncommon outside of the West Indies that we are satellites by nature and exist only to serve as pawns to outside countries. We have, therefore, no alternative but to seek against the background of our common history and traditions, to make common cause against the unfortunate tendency to regard us for all time as hewers of wood and drawers of water for other people.”

“What we put to the meeting is that all the countries that so desire should seek to move to the creation of an economic space in the Caribbean by 2011,” he said.

Norman Girvan, international relations lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), agreed that Manning’s initiative was a “rather ambitious one.” He said that the region needed to co-ordinate macro-economic policies, establish a monetary union, harmonise policies in labour and establish company law. This, he said, is difficult to achieve in the short space of time as wide consultation is necessary.

He said the lesson to be learnt from the establishment and success of the OECS, is the need to involve the population to the maximum.Girvan, in an article published in Antigua on June 30, titled “Caribbean: Regional unity losing steam, critics say” warned of a possible collapse of Caricom, if regional leaders failed to put in place mechanisms to enforce decisions regarding the integration process.

Girvan was quoted as saying that the 15-member grouping had become stagnant due mainly to a lack of implementing decisions.“I’ve been a committed integrationist all my life but I have to call it as I see it...to be brutally frank and realistic about it, I see a real danger of disintegration. We are at a juncture,” he had said.“We’re still clinging to the insular sovereignty that, in my opinion, is largely fictitious because in the modern world, states of our size simply cannot expect to have any real sovereignty.“The forces of globalisation, the fact of our small size, the fact of our trade dependency, the fact of our military weakness, all of these things make it virtually impossible for our small island states to have any real sovereignty,” he said.

He admitted on Monday that Manning’s timing was a positive step.“It’s a start. It’s an intention to start. If you looked at the EU, it started with a couple of countries and different countries signed in at different points in time,” he said.Manning was expected to travel yesterday with Thomas to Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis and Dominica in a bit of shuttle diplomacy aimed at persuading their leaders to sign the MOU.

BEING INTEGRATED

Professor Vaughn Lewis, former secretary general of the OECS, said that in the movement to Caribbean integration there were a long list of unavoidable errors.Lewis’ perception is that these errors can be avoided 40 years later.“All the odds are open. We have to investigate. Some of us have ideas about certain things and see what is the most appropriate at this time,” he said.

He said a political apparatus needed to be established to manage the single market and economy.“My own view is that the single economy we are looking for will not be able to proceed if we are using the same decision making tools of Caricom.”

He said that a political union, not envisioned until 2015, would revolve around two issues: how to make decisions effectively and how to present the region to the international community.

“The issue is whether we will have the ingenuity like the EU years ago to find an appropriate way to instigate a unified implementation apparatus,” he said.

Dr Kerry Sumar-Rai, lecturer at the University of the West Indies(UWI) said that while the talk of regional integration is being bandied about, there are several advantages and disadvantages to being economically and politically integrated.

Consider that in 1963, Jamaica’s reasons for withdrawing from the Federation included its geographical location, the fact that its share of the seats in the Federal Parliament was smaller than its share of the total population and it was believed that the smaller islands were draining Jamaica’s wealth.In 2008, T&T’s economy supercedes that of its neighbours and while the majority of them depend on Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez’s Petro Caribe Initiative, T&T is energy-independent.Gonsalves has criticised reports that the OECS is “ milking” T&T.Sumar-Rai said that the Government’s support of the Eastern Caribbean Gas Pipeline (ECGP) was a tool it could leverage to its neighbours to break Chavez’s stronghold on the Caribbean.

The US$550 million,176-mile pipeline is expected to be built from Cove Point, Tobago, to Barbados with the intention that it be continued through the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and St Lucia, the other destinations for the pipeline.First mooted in 2002 and described as a pipedream, the pipeline was conceived to serve seven Caribbean islands: Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Dominica all stressed by high fuel prices.

Manning has assured that a political union with countries of the OECS would not be inconsistent, although such countries have signed on to the PetroCaribe Initiative.“It is not inconsistent. T&T took actions to facilitate the signing on the PetroCaribe,” Manning said.Sumar-Rai said that issues surrounding economic integration would have to include a meaningful dialogue on sharing of resources.Politically, he noted that several of the Caribbean countries have both a prime minister and a president while Guyana has an executive president.He pointed out that if the Caribbean was united in the 2008 Beijing Olympics rather than entered as individual countries, it would have present a formidable team.The most obvious issue, for Sumar-Rai, though, is how would the smaller islands react to T&T’s entrepreneurs having access to their markets.

“How do we find a balance?” he asked.Lewis said that there needs to be a rationalisation of what exists: air travel, security and maritime relations.“These are the realities of changing regional economy,” he said.

Canute James, acting director of the Caribbean Institute of Mass Communications (Carimac), University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica, and former Financial Times writer, said that regional integration would work efficiently if there is:

1. Free movement of capital: for example, getting the regional stock exchange up and functioning properly;

2. Free movement of skills: which would create a region-wide job market;

3. Investment treaties and common fiscal incentives so businesses can find the optimal location based on the type of business they do;

4. Intellectual property rights agreements;

5. A single currency managed by a regional central bank or currency board. Ironically, the OECS has this with a common central bank.

6. Common exchange rate policies. Caricom countries now have a range of free floats (Guyana), managed floats (Jamaica) and fixed parity (Barbados and OECS).

7. Eliminating wide economic development differences. Per capita income of $7,500 in Barbados is three times that of Jamaica and 30 times that of Haiti.

8. A body to arbitrate on trade disputes among members. This is established with the Caribbean Court of Justice, to which T&T is not fully signed.

CARICOM UNDER THREAT?

Caricom under threat?
Source: Jamaica Observer

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The extraordinary initiative launched by Mr Patrick Manning, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has raised the sinister spectre of a potential Caricom schism.

Mr Manning, without any apparent prior consultation with the Conference of Heads of Government, invited the prime ministers of St Vincent, Grenada, St Lucia and ministers of foreign affairs from Guyana and Barbados, also Caricom's secretary general Mr Edwin Carrington and director general of the OECS Mr Len Ishmael to discuss a coalition of Eastern Caribbean States to culminate with political union in 2015.

Notably absent, along with Suriname and Haiti, was Jamaica, which had neither Mr Golding nor the minister of foreign affairs Ken Baugh in attendance. Either Jamaica was not invited, or the Trinidadian invitation was declined. However, besides the obvious breach of protocol, the meeting carried a subliminal contemplation of "schism". The group is scheduled to meet shortly with the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis to discuss the initiative further.

Throughout their press releases, the group emphasised that their agenda would not affect the current structure of Caricom as established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. Eventually, this would have to be determined by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which has responsibility for interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

The initiative could have been prompted by frustration with the inordinately slow progress of the CSME that after 35 years since the signing of the Treaty Establishing the Caribbean Community, there is still no sign of the CSME becoming a complete functioning reality. The Eastern Caribbean states perceive Jamaica as "special", meaning not exactly in step with their objectives and goals.

It has long been surmised that with its growing energy wealth and economic strength, Trinidad and Tobago may decide to act independently and demit Caricom membership in pursuit of closer ties with the Southern Cone countries. However, it is unlikely that such a move would be supported by Trinidad and Tobago's private sector, which relies heavily on the Caricom market and Jamaica in particular, for its continued prosperity. Likewise, the extensive Trinidadian investment in Jamaica would strongly militate against such a fundamental redirection of overseas trade. Even now, it's doubtful if the Trinidadian private sector supports the recent initiative.

Caricom was modelled on the Treaty of Rome 1957 that created the European Economic Community which developed into the European Union, now numbering 27 countries with the future prospect for further expansion. The EU has established the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Justice and the European Commission - the executive branch, and is in the process of reformulating its constitution which was rejected earlier by some members for various reasons.

In the Caribbean, the significant stumbling block has been political integration, which many see as essential if Caricom states are to function and progress as a united region. So far, the most cogent proposal has been to follow the EU structure by appointing a Caribbean Commission comprised of three or four commissioners endowed with executive authority to oversee implementation of decisions arrived at by the Conference of Heads of Government. By this method, Caricom would maintain forward movement avoiding the present malaise created by years of procrastination and vacillation. To date, this proposal has not been accepted, leaving the region in an apparent state of suspended animation that may have contributed to Trinidad's pre-emptive action, the purpose of which is stated to be: "collaboration towards achievement of a Single Market and Economy and Political Integration".

Trinidad's initiative could prompt Jamaica to consider its possible exit from Caricom. Significant areas of the Jamaican private sector support this radical prospect. By no means least is the yawning trade deficit that Jamaica has with Trinidad and Tobago, being the principal receptacle for Trinidadian manufactured goods and services. By comparison, the number of Jamaican firms operating in Trinidad is minimal, when compared with Trinidad-owned entities in financial services and manufacturing operating in Jamaica which provide employment, tax revenue and in many cases, very good products and services.

Still, the belief exists within the Jamaican private sector that Jamaica can stand and prosper independently, despite a debt to GDP ratio of around 132 per cent, flat goods production for both export and domestic market, as yet an uncontrolled crime scene and a critical unemployment level.

In the future absence of border taxes in compliance with the EPA, national revenue would be derived principally from diaspora remittances, tourism, maritime trans-shipment activity and communication call centres. The list is not exhaustive. For example; Jamaica, it is claimed, with the removal of the CET, could import rice, oil, natural gas, cement and manufactured goods cheaper from extra-regional sources while maintaining effective food security. Given Jamaica's precarious economic situation, there are still those who believe that economic viability in today's globalised world can yet be achieved by going it alone.

It is notable that Professor Vaughn Lewis, one of the critics of the EPA, together with Professor Norman Girvan and Ambassador Havelock Brewster, has been appointed to prepare a study on a possible political union involving the emerging Eastern Caribbean coalition of nano states.

It is both urgent and imperative that Jamaica and the Trinidad and Tobago government clarify the reason for Jamaica's absence at the meeting in Port of Spain, along with a fuller explanation of the initiative.

Make a firm decision!

Commentary: Belize and the Commonwealth countries must decide which court should have the final say
Published on Friday, July 25, 2008

Sorce: Caribbean Net News, Cayman Islands
Print Version

By Wellington C. Ramos In most of the English-speaking Caribbean countries there has been a significant increase in the number of murders that are being committed weekly. Especially in countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and Belize. The governments of these countries are so baffled and confused about this situation that they are making all type of efforts to stop these senseless killings.

The problem is that in all these countries the last deciding legal body is the Privy Council in London. In these countries they have a national Supreme Court and an Appeals Court. These courts have been sentencing murderers to death but when most of these cases are appealed to the Privy Council in London, the sentences are reversed and the execution of capital punishment is terminated or downsized to manslaughter due to some technicalities.

Born in Dangriga Town, the cultural capital of Belize, Wellington Ramos has an M.A. in Urban Studies from Long Island UniversitySome of the legal experts are pushing for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), a regional court, to become the final court for all decisions. However, some legal experts in Belize and the other Commonwealth countries are against that change. They probably fear that if the last decision is given to a national court in their respective countries, there is a strong possibility that some of their nationals would be executed for political reasons despite the fact that they were innocent.

While these countries are not making any decision as to which way to proceed, their citizens are living in fear due to the continued increase in the amount of murders in their countries and the possibility of losing a loved one or a friend next is increasing. In Belize the murderers are bold and brazen because they are executing people in broad daylight without any fear or respect for the laws of our country.

The issue of capital punishment is a controversial topic not only in Belize but throughout the entire world. There will always be people who are in favour and against capital punishment. There will also be statistics that support and dispute the impact capital punishment has on the increase or decrease in the number of murders that are being committed in every country. In my five years when I was a police officer in the country of Belize, I have never seen Belize in such a state of fear. When we had capital punishment enforced, our murder rate was so low that, when we had a murder, we all could attend the funeral and sympathise with the family. Today, there are so many murders being committed in a week that we have to choose which funeral to attend.

I am not a legal expert and it does not take a legal expert to come to the conclusion that we should consider solving this problem now. The governments of the Commonwealth nations and the English-speaking Caribbean, including Belize, can put a referendum question to their citizens to decide which court they want to have the last say on all legal matters in their country. They will then choose between the Privy Council in London, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the Belize Court of Appeals. I would prefer the Belize Court of Appeals being the last court to decide on all maters affecting my country. I am a nationalist Belizean and I cannot see another country’s court system deciding the final decision on pertinent issues such as these.

The case of Michael Ashcroft has caused me to believe that he will do everything to avoid our national courts. This is a case that we should take seriously even though it is only dealing with a financial dispute. If he becomes victorious in London, it will set a major precedent and have wider implications because it will give the Privy Council the power to derail many laws passed by our House of Representatives. What does the word independence mean if we are not a sovereign state? It would be meaningless and there should have been no reason why we sought it. If any person or group of persons enter into an agreement with any government and they feel that their rights were infringed or violated, they could go to the International Court of Justice to seek redress.

I think the Privy Council’s role in the Commonwealth nations judicial system, is spelled out in their nation’s constitution. This role should be redefined because this arrangement we have in place is not working in the best interest of our country and the Commonwealth nations.

CCJ sets hearing November 10

CCJ sets hearing on complaints against Guyana published

Friday July 25, 2008
PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC)

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has adjourned to November 10 hearing of an application by the Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) and the TCL Guyana Incorporated (TGI) for leave to appear as special parties to a court matter filed against the Guyana Government.

Historic sitting

In an interim ruling, the seven judges described the proceedings as "historic" since "this is the first matter in which the Caribbean Court of Justice has been called upon to exercise its original jurisdiction".

The applicants had gone to the CCJ for special leave to appear as parties seeking compensation and/or injunctive relief from the Guyana Government after alleging a breach by Georgetown of the provisions of Article 82 of the Treaty of Chaguaramas which oblige Guyana to establish and maintain a common external tariff (CET) on cement imported into that state from third states.

They argued that the imposition of the CET at the rate of 15 per cent on imports of cement from third states is of great commercial benefit to them because of the protection thereby afforded to their products.

Competitive advantage

TCL and TGI also said that when the CET is imposed by Guyana, they enjoy a competitive advantage over imports of cement from third states which do not qualify for Community treatment in accordance with the treaty.

But, according to the two companies, they do not now enjoy this competitive advantage because the Guyana Government in January 2007 suspended the implementation of the CET on imports of cement into that country from third states.

Justified

In response, Guyana's Attorney General Doodnauth Singh admitted that the Bharrat Jagdeo government had suspended implementation of the CET on cement and that the Caribbean Community's Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED) had not authorised any suspension in respect of the relevant period.

But, he said, that the suspension was justified because of the critical shortage of the commodity and in light of Guyana's urgent developmental needs as a "dis-advantaged country" pursuant to Article One of the treaty.

CARICOM most successful behind EU

OAS assistant secretary general speaks of advantages offered by Caribbean countries
Published on Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Print Version
Source: Caribbean Net News
WASHINGTON, USA:

Touting the benefits Florida business leaders could derive from investing in the Caribbean, Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin argued that the region’s trading arrangements offer prospects for expanded market for their products and services. Calling the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the most successful integration system after the European Union, Ramdin highlighted the Single Market to enhance business promotion and entrepreneurship. He said the Caribbean Court of Justice as CARICOM’s highest court of appeal “is another significant step in providing judicial certainty to individuals, business community and nations.”

OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin. OAS PHOTOThe State of Florida needs to unite on an agenda for the Caribbean. “It is not only in the interest of the Caribbean, but also in your own interest,” Ramdin declared at the weekend, in his keynote address to the second annual meeting of the World Affairs Council and the World Trade Center of Tampa Bay, Florida. City of Tampa mayor Pam Iorio introduced the OAS Assistant Secretary General to the guests.

“For the State of Florida in general and for Tampa in particular, given the proximity to the Caribbean, it is important to strengthen political and economic relations and to work towards a comprehensive agenda of collaboration, not only in trade, but also in culture, education, and other areas,” said Ramdin. “There are opportunities, but if these are not used or if the relationship deteriorates because of economic problems, there will be also risk.”

His address was entitled “New Trends in the Americas: Focus on the Caribbean” and it was delivered at an event where Rick Murrell, Chairman and President of Tropical Shipping Lines, received this year’s International Commerce Award for outstanding contribution to promoting international trade. Hailing the honoree, Ramdin also cited Murrell’s “important contribution to the economies of the Caribbean.”

Ramdin noted CARICOM free trade agreements with the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba, and negotiations for preferential trading with Canada to become a full-fledged free trade agreement. He added that a longstanding preferential economic trade agreement with the European Union has been re-negotiated into an Economic Partnership Agreement. In addition to proximity, the OAS Assistant Secretary General said the Caribbean region offers potential Florida investors advantages of language, comparable legal systems and relative peace.

Overall, the investment climate is generally an inviting one, he stated. “Taking advantage of these programs could be a good win-win for Tampa and the Caribbean in bringing home the advantages of an integrated market with commercial links and new personal relationships on which to build a long-term, stable market,” said Ramdin. “Tourism, health services, value-added agriculture, high-tech services, financial services; energy products, and cultural items for the large Caribbean diaspora represent key sectors for development in the Caribbean,”

Ramdin told the business leaders. “Eco-tourism and cultural tourism are on the rise. Agriculture is being expanded for high-value products such as cacao, coffee, limes, mangoes and coconuts for export," he explained.Major donors such as the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, the Canadian International Development Agency, the British Department for International Development and others are helping to fund programs to upgrade the Caribbean’s trading infrastructure, Ramdin stressed. “This creates another type of business opportunity for companies such as those you have here in Tampa.”

These donors will be giving the Caribbean special attention in the build up to the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will be held in April 2009 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. This will be the first meeting of the new US president with his 33 counterparts in the Americas and an excellent opportunity for the launch of new programs to assist the Caribbean. “Those companies who have thought ahead and have products and services ready to link with the region will have a jump on the competition and be able to take advantage of this “tipping point” in the Caribbean.”

Ramdin accentuated the OAS’s activities, telling his guests that the organization’s “ultimate objective… is to promote and contribute to an environment of peace and stability, so as to create conditions for social and economic development in the Western Hemisphere.” He identified as central issues for the hemisphere the consolidation of democracies that respond effectively to citizens; maintaining fiscal responsibility and economic stability; improving transparency; fighting entrenched poverty as well as inequality; significantly reducing crime; improving the environment; and creating opportunities for young people to thrive.

CCJ rules in favour of TPL ( Guyana)

CCJ rules in favour of TPL for part of long-disputed Turkeyen land

Source: Stabroek News - Guyana

Published July 16, 2008

State to retain control over other parcels

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) yesterday ruled in favour of Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL) for a section of land at Turkeyen that had been tied up in a marathon legal dispute dating back to 1989 but lost its claim to land that the court said was always in possession of the State.

Land identified in Toolsie Persaud’s petition to the CCJ as areas, `F’, `G’ and `H’ were found to be within lawful claims of the company in addition to an area identified as `C’ but the court ruled that a complication arose with `C’ given that the previous owner, Shivlochnie Singh had transported the land to another person and that individual was not a party to the proceedings.

The court in a lengthy judgment ruled that TPL had successfully petitioned for prescriptive title by adverse possession for 12 years by combining the state’s and its hold over the land since 1977 but it cannot now assert any rights against the current owner of land referred to as C’, who was named as Raymond Austin, since he was not a party to the proceedings in court. According to the judgment, the CCJ, Guyana’s final court of appeal, found that it was quite improper to make any order which affected Austin without giving him an opportunity to be heard.

“It is unfortunate that, given the inordinate length of time that these proceedings have been in progress, that is, some fifteen years (the duration of the appellant’s case), the final disposition of this case will still leave the appellant with another hurdle to cross if it is to succeed in securing title for area ‘C’, but this is a consequence of events over which we had no control’, the CCJ said in its decision.

But ruling on the principal issue of whether the State can acquire by adverse possession land, which it had taken possession of under an order for compulsory acquisition, which had subsequently been declared by the court to be invalid, presiding Justices of the court President Michael de la Bastide; Rolston Nelson; Duke Pollard; Jacob Wit and David Hayton said that physical occupation and use of land with the intention of excluding everyone else, amount to adverse possession, whether the occupier acts in good faith, believing himself to the owner, or in bad faith, knowing that someone else is the owner.

Further they said that the state appears on the record of title as the lawful owner of the other parcels of land and cited a fundamental rule which is that, “possession is never adverse if it can be referred to as a lawful title” and therefore dismissed Toolsie Persaud’s petition for prescriptive title to those areas identified as `K’; `J’; `N’ and `O’ calling it, misconceived. The company’s petition against the State in respect in respect of the area called `K’ was also dismissed since the court found that an Albert Chung-Wee had been the lawful title holder at the time of the compulsory acquisition of the land in 1977.

In its judgment, the CCJ pointed out that the legal disputes relating to the October 1987 contract between the state and Toolsie Persaud remain to be resolved as they, too, were not within the ambit of the appeal.

“It would be an extremely unfortunate waste of resources if these prime lands for development stagnated for decades yet to come due to protracted litigation over the contract. It is hoped, therefore, that the disputes arising from the contract can be speedily settled by the parties with the aid of their legal advisers”, the court said.The CCJ also expressed hope that such a settlement will not be delayed by a protracted dispute between the Toolsie Persaud and Raymond Austin over area C’.In April, 2008 when the matter went before the CCJ the court reserved judgment but requested that the attorneys make written submissions in 14 days on how the court should fashion relief or remedies, were it to find favour with Toolsie Persaud’s application.

In its petition before the court Toolsie Persaud named the Attorney General; Andrew James Investment Limited and Shivlochnie Singh as respondents and was seeking a declaration that it had acquired title by prescriptive title by undisturbed adverse possession of land for 12 years referred to as areas, `C’; `F’; `G’; `H’; `K’; `N’; `J’ and `O’ as being part of Plantation Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara.

But the petition was opposed as to areas `F’; `G’ and `H’ by Andrew James Investments Limited; area `C’ by Singh and areas `K’; `N’; `J’ and `O’ by the Attorney General on behalf of the state.

Background

The entire tract of land had been the subject of a compulsory acquisition order (CAO) of June 8th 1977. In October 1987 the state contracted to sell the entire tract to TPL and the company took possession in April 1988. In March 1989, the First Respondent (James) filed a constitutional motion challenging the CAO. Kissoon J ruled in the favour of the First Respondent in May 1990 and title was returned to it. An appeal by the state of this decision was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in March 1995. The second respondent (Singh) also succeeded in having title returned to her in July, 1995 after launching proceedings in November 1989.

In 1993, TPL filed a petition claiming prescriptive rights by adding its own adverse possession to that of the state. It was this tack that won its case against the First and Second respondents as the CCJ found that the respondents could have taken action earlier against the CAO.

The CCJ held that “a landowner’s right of action to recover his land arises as soon as he can bring an action in which he can claim recovery of title and possession. Thereafter, time runs against him. An action could have been brought against the State from 8th July, 1977 claiming that the CAO and the acquisition of title thereunder were invalid and requiring title and possession to be restored to the relevant landowner. After the appellant took possession in April 1988, the action needed also to be brought against the Appellant. However, no action was brought against the Appellant by the First or Second Respondents up to the time the Appellant filed its petition. There had therefore been the requisite twelve year period (1977 to 1989) during which the State and then the Appellant were successively in possession of the land”.

Attorneys Sir Fenton Ramsahoye SC; Anand Ramlogan and Chandraprakesh Vikash Satram appeared for the appellant, Toolsie Persaud while Ashton Chase SC and Sase Narain represented Andrew James Investments Limited and Rex McKay SC; Neil Boston and Hukumchand appeared for Singh.

The court has ordered that Andrew James Investment Limited and Singh are to pay two thirds of the costs incurred by Toolsie Persaud in the petition while TPL is to pay one third of the AG’s costs.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/news/ccj-rules-in-favour-of-tpl-for-part-of-long-disputed-turkeyen-land/

CARICOM or GUATEMALA

CARICOM or Guatemala

Source: http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=7168
Posted: 08/07/2008

“Man, proud man
Dress’d in a little brief authority
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d
His glassy essence – like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.”
—William Shakespeare

I prefer the Jamaican creole patois version of the above, which goes as follows:

“Likkle men wid brief authority
Beat dem likkle puny chests to the sky
Whilst di angels dem haffi cry.”

As the Opposition during the last administration, the present government voted against Belize signing on to the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) at a vote taken in the National Assembly. Following the recent visit and seminar given by the Justices of the CCJ, the present government, in the person of the Attorney General are now saying they are willing to “revisit” their previous stance on the CCJ. We’ll see.

“During the past few years, the people of British Honduras have begun to realize that they are the victims of a monstrous conspiracy to deprive them of their country.” –Hon. Philip S.W. Goldson,
United Nations, New York, 30 August 1967

“ The time to save your country, is before you lose it.” —Hon. Philip S.W. Goldson

In the mean time, the life-sized bust of this Belizean patriot, tireless benefactor, and national hero is allowed to sit languishing on the muddy roadside along the Northern Highway. The attitude seems to be that if you ignore it, and its messenger (the sculptor), somehow the message will likewise be ignored, maybe even go away. We’ll see.

It is sometimes said that one’s attitude will determine one’s altitude. However the converse is also true. Altitude can determine attitude. Pilots learn very early in flight school that adequate altitude is the aircraft’s life blood. Fly low and the engine fails, no chance for recovery, gravity quickly determines the aircraft’s attitude, nose dive, spin, crash and burn. On the other hand, fly high enough, the engine fails, there is room for recovery, maintain a nose up attitude, glide, find a landing area, land, survive.

So, just as choosing an adequate flight level (altitude) is important for survival in an aircraft….similarly choosing and maintaining a high standard of association is important for survival as a people and as a country.

CARICOM, and its two main organs - the CSME ( Caribbean Single Market and Economy), and the CCJ, I venture to say, do not need Belize half as much as Belize needs them. For Belizeans of the Caribbean diaspora, it may just be our last chance of survival as a people. I am again reminded of the statement Derek Walcott from St. Lucia made on receiving his Nobel Prize in Literature....” That a day may come when people may ask not only what became of our shores and bays, but of a whole people.”

Currently CARICOM has fifteen (15) full members - Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago. There are five(5) associate members - Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands. There are seven observers - Aruba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

The entire population of the fifteen full members is approximately 15 million. The associate members number about 154,000, and observer countries 290 million.

At the last census July 2007, the population of Guatemala was around 13 million.

There is a CARICOM Common Passport which is aimed at making intra-regional and international travel much easier for CARICOM citizens. As of late 2007, ten member states have already introduced the CARICOM passport. Unfortunately, we have been fed negative attitudes, and imagined obstacles to the Caribbean integration process – “distances too large,” “lack of transportation,” “lack of market access.”

We had intra-regional economic, educational, cultural, sport, and every other exchange with the Caribbean long before container ships, airplanes, and, of course, the Internet. CARICOM detractors, and our enemies fuel the negativity. Meantime the illegal immigration and illegal citizenship continue unabated, changing our demographic landscape.

“No person shall be entitled under provisions of this Chapter to be a citizen of Belize or be granted citizenship of Belize if such person shows any allegiance to or is a citizen of a country which does not recognize the Independence, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Belize”

—Constitution of Belize Chapter III 29 (3)

CARICOM, the CSME, and the CCJ are a work in progress headed in the right direction, especially for Belize, a nation of 300,000 people, a large portion of which are citizens of a retrograde country which has long since, and still does not recognize our right to survive independent, sovereign, and with territory intact.

October 18, 1999 - Foreign Minister of Guatemala, Eduardo Stein, in a long note to the then Prime Minister of Belize, wrote that all the territory between the Sibun and Sarstoon Rivers must be “returned”to Guatemala, together with all the cayes, except St. George’s Caye,…additionally declaring Guatemala’s non-recognition of our borders as laid down in the 1859 Boundary Treaty.

April 29, 1987 at a ministerial meeting in Miami, Guatemala demanded that Belize cede the Toledo District and the Ranguana and Sapodilla Cayes, and British compensation totaling one hundred million pounds sterling as the price of settlement. One must note today the recent land disputes in the Toledo District with considerable interest and concern, if not suspicion.

So, we in Belize, especially those of the Caribbean diaspora, have a sacred responsibility to embrace CARICOM, the CSME, and the CCJ, and to do all in our power to make it work. If it means encouraging government to subsidize a small airline to link us with Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, thus eliminating the need for travel through Miami, the associated costs, and US transit visa requirement, then begin thinking about it. If you think it, you will do it.

May seem a small step, but will be the opening of the gateway, that elusive bridge that our fellow CARICOM citizens and ourselves will use to enhance the integration process, encourage freedom of movement, drive market access, nurture cultural exchanges, grow the tourism product, revive sports through serious competition, renew educational opportunities, maintain military and security support, sharing all the other aspects of life in the Caribbean Community.

“One Love. One Heart. Let’s get together and feel alright.” —Bob Marley

CCJ Reserves Ruling Under Original Jurisdiction - TCL/TGI Case

TCL/TGI case against Guyana gov’t -CCJ reserves ruling on special leave to sue
By Miranda La Rose

Source Stabroek News

July 7, 2008

Arguments in the application to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by Trinidad Cement Limited and TCL Guyana Limited (TGI) to be granted special leave to commence proceedings against the Guyana government have been heard but a ruling has been reserved for a later date.

At the three-hour hearing at the CCJ in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, Queen’s Counsel Dr Claude Denbow presented the case for TCL (the parent company) and TGI while Guyana’s Attorney General Doodnauth Singh argued against the CCJ granting special leave to commence the hearing. CCJ President Michael De La Bastide presided over the court

Doodnauth SinghTCL/TGI are asking that their matter, in which they are claiming losses due to the Guyana government’s unilateral waiver of a 15% Common External Tariff (CET) on cement imports, be dealt with in accordance with Article 222 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and Part 10 of the Caribbean Court of Justice (Original Jurisdiction) Rules of 2006. It is the first time that the regional court has been approached in its original jurisdiction.

In their application TCL and TGI said that under Article 82 of the Revised Treaty they are entitled to protection under the Common External Tariff (CET). Their written submission said they “have been prejudiced in the enjoyment” of their rights by the government.

They also said that T&T as the contracting party was entitled to espouse TCL’s claim but had not done so and the same was the case in relation to Guyana and TGI. Appended to the application was a letter by TCL to the T&T Attorney General Bridgid Anissette-George, dated February 20, 2008, asking for permission for TCL to pursue the claim on its own behalf or for Port of Spain to forward the claim on its behalf. Anissette-George replied on March 4, 2008 with a three-line letter that said the matter had been duly noted.

In his summary, Denbow said that it was important to note that the issue of public importance was the preservation of the integrity of the Revised Treaty and the TCL was acting in a fashion wholly consistent with the Revised Treaty. He noted that TCL was engaged in substantial cross-border investment, investing over US$10 million in a state-of-the art facility in Guyana on the condition that it would enjoy market access, have the opportunity to expand, produce and supply its products to the Guyana market. The US$10 million investment was part of an overall loan package of US$105 million obtained from the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC to expand and modernize TCL plants in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

He said that the company’s expectation was not made possible because of the steadfast refusal of the Guyana government to implement the CET. After the further suspension of the CET from 2004 to 2006, TCL and TGI approached the government but after not getting any results in 2007 they approached the Caricom Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in November 2007 which suggested that Guyana should once again implement the CET because the supply issue which the country had raised in the past no longer existed. Denbow said that there was total silence on the part of the government and the CET remained in place.

Community law“On what legal authority, one does not know,” he said adding that, “What you have here is a flagrant breach of community law.” In the circumstances, he submitted that as guardians of the Revised Treaty the CCJ ought to intervene to uphold the community law. “That is why I am asking the court to grant special leave to prosecute these proceedings,” he said, noting that correspondence between TCL and TGI to resolve the matter between ministers of the Guyana government and his clients were repeatedly ignored.

He said that the case cries out for the CCJ to intervene in order to protect the integration process of Caricom and to uphold the law between the state and investors under the Caricom agreement.

In defence of the Guyana Government, Attorney General Singh said that Denbow did not define who in terms of nationals was entitled to be heard by the CCJ and the circumstances. No where in his arguments did he establish the issue of management and control but instead referred to the history of the company and its shareholders of which Sierra Trading 9 Cemex SA de CV) held 20% of the shares, the largest in the company.

He said it was significant that when a contracting party alleges a violation between a contracting party and another it was obligatory that they enter into consultations and attempt to arrive at amicable settlement within the provisions of the Revised Treaty and further to take steps to arbitrate in disputes but this was not done.

The absence of consultation and arbitration, he said, were reasons why special leave should not be granted, adding that litigation should be a last resort.

Even though Guyana acted unilaterally in waiving the CET, he said, TCL never objected to the waivers. While the government ought to have imposed the CET, he said that it would appear that because of the difficulty being experienced the GOG implemented the policy on a yearly basis. It was because TCL appreciated their inability to meet the demand that the T&T government never implemented the CET as well, he contended.

With Justices Desiree Bernard and Adrian Saunders noting that there were breaches by the Guyana government and asking why he was using the breaches in his arguments, he explained that it was to show that in spite of them TCL allowed the violations to continue for a year because they could not supply the market.

Vienna Convention

Justice Saunders reminded him that Guyana ratified the Vienna Convention of the Law Treaty on September 5, 2005 which says that “treaties must be fulfilled in the utmost…”Justice Bernard said that whether TCL allowed the violations, the point was that the State of Guyana flouted the treaty obligations and to try to make excuses for an apparent disregard on the basis of TCL or action or inaction was inexcusable.

However, Singh replied that he was not seeking to justify but to rationalise why TCL did not take steps earlier to correct the issue of the CET. “They came late in the day,” he said.

Accepting what was said that the Guyana government should have approached COTED to get the permission to have the waiver implemented, he insisted that he was “attempting to demonstrate that in the interest of justice and for the exercise of its discretion that those factors could be taken into account to determine whether the overall requirements of justice could be utilised in such a way that leave ought not to be granted.”

In closing his arguments, he said that based on a publication he read from, dated May 2, 2008 TCL’s profits should be noted by the courts.TCL and TGI filed their request for special leave on April 3, under Article 211 (d) and 222 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established the Caribbean Community, including the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) and Articles XII (d) and XXIV of the agreement establishing the CCJ.

Once the CCJ hears the case TCL (the parent company) and TGI would be claiming according to the written submissions “compensation from and/or injunctive relief against the Government of Guyana in respect of breach of provisions of the Revised Treaty under which Guyana is obligated to impose and maintain a Common External Tariff on cement imported into Guyana from countries outside the Caribbean Community.”

TCL and TGI are asking the CCJ to declare that the Republic of Guyana, a party to the revised treaty, violated the provisions of Article 82 by failing to implement and maintain the CET of 15% in respect of imports of building cement. They also seek a declaration that as a party to the revised treaty and member state of Caricom, Guyana failed to maintain the CET, violating the right and entitlement of the claimants to the protection of the provisions of the revised treaty.

As a consequence, the claimants feel, Guyana is liable to pay compensation to them for any loss suffered by reason of its conduct. It is also asking the CCJ for an order to direct the government to bring its regime of imports of building cement in conformity with Article 82 of the revised treaty by implementing the CET; and for damages for loss of profits as a direct result of the government’s failure to implement the CET for the period January 2007 to December 2007 and continuing; exemplary damages; an order that the costs of the proceedings be borne by the government of Guyana; as well as such other orders that the CCJ deems fit.

According to the full statement of facts, the first claimant TCL is a limited liability company incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, Chapter 31:01 of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago but it is also registered “as an external company under the Companies Act, No 29 of 1991 of the Laws of Guyana with its registered office at 2-9 Lombard Street, GNIC Compound, George-town, Guyana.

The second claimant, TGI, is a limited liability company, which was incorporated on March 17, 2004 under the Companies Act, No 29, with registered office at Lombard Street as well. TCL holds 80% of the issued capital of TGI and the other 20% is held equally by Toolsie Persaud Ltd and Anral Shipping Ltd.

CLICK LINK TO HEAR AUDIO: http://www.caribbeancourtofjustice.org/audio/ar12008/ar1_2008_am.html

Hang Together or Hang Separately

We must Hang Together - or Separately

Social Commentary

Source: The Democrat Newspaper - St Kitts & Nevis

July 7, 2008

We blindly repeat the quotes “Unity is Strength”, and “United we stand, divided we fall” but it is never clear that we really believe them enough to walk the walk despite how .often we talk the talk.

By the time this article is printed, the CARICOM SUMMIT would have ended and we hope that apart from the eloquent ‘lippy lippy’ we hear speakers giving there, that we will see action plans being implemented quickly to unify and strengthen this organization in order to combat the common problems which could ‘hang’ each island separately.

Why does TEAMWORK seem to be a dying art – both on the local and regional levels? Is it that we are so insecure that ego-bloating and insular sovereignty must be pushed ahead of long term security to boost and maintain our stranglehold on power. The bottom line is that politicians who cannot practice the tenets of UNITY at home cannot be expected to understand it on a regional level either.

This why just two weeks ago Prime Minister Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines could see nothing wrong in creating more division in CARICOM by openly calling it a “ramshackle political apparatus”.

"It is most doubtful that we would see in CARICOM an integrated judiciary as in the OECS, or an enhanced institutionalised ''supranationality'' in political decision-making which is required to transform a ramshackle political-administrative apparatus in CARICOM into a purposive, matching vehicle correspondingly, for the Single Economy venture . . . ." Gonsalves said.


This will not mend fences or promote the spirit of working together to solve common challenges in the region. In the same way, some prime ministers see nothing wrong in invading the internal boundaries of a neighbouring state to campaign on behalf of another prime minister and call the opposition leaders insulting names.

This “I can do as I like’ attitude creeps right into CARICOM decision making. So Caribbean leaders still cannot “hang together” on matters like “Cruise Passenger taxing”, “LIAT financing”, “the Caribbean Court of Justice”, and the “One-China Policy”. They drag their feet on CSME, do not agree on adopting CAPE exams (Dominica), and opt out of whaling agreements. Even at this Summit this week, there is talk that Guyana will not sign on to the EPA agreement and that Tourism ministers are finding it hard to see beyond their own white sand beaches.

And while they will seek to create a single economic space in CSME, they will not even come close to adopting the common OECS currency which has proven to be stronger and more stable than other regional currencies (with the possible exception of Barbados)

So whither CARICOM? What exactly are we clinging to? How exactly is Secretary-General Carrington to forge unity among these “own way” sovereign states?

Caribbean scholar and recent Head of ACS, Professor Norman Girvan, said recently, "Our Community leaders are still clinging to an insular sovereignty that perpetuates failure to strengthen the region''s integration movement by an effective system of governance.”

‘DUMP IT, DISCUSS IT, DELEGATE IT’

If we cannot unite for the good of our country or region, what are the alternatives? Surely we cannot dump our problems, for this would be like taking on a suicidal attitude. CARICOM is great at discussing and delegating and the latter is based on the premise that each country can take on a manageable slice of problem solving. Internally, when governments fail to join with Opposition on finding solutions ESPECIALLY ON CRIME, they can at least delegate areas to civic-minded groups. Such an act can only redound to the benefit of all. Just recently a regional police officer was speaking of the areas in which action needs to be taken simultaneously for the elimination of gangs. They are:
PREVENTION – keeping children out
INTERVENTION – stopping it; providing alternatives
SUPPRESSION – more patrols; searches; law enforcement
RE-ENTRY – rehabilitation of offenders into society


Finally, since the murder of the Head of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Douglas Chambers in late June, one outraged writer to the Jamaica Gleaner Newspaper has offered suggestions to the Prime Minister. We would do well to listen to all suggestions to break the circle of this escalation of crime that threatens to engulf us. Here are his suggestions:

ENOUGH! Prime Minister, Opposition leader, Security minister, Opposition spokesman on Security, Commissioner of Police and Army Chief, draw the line on the platitudes after each murder and come on TV, radio and in the printed press and speak openly and loudly in one voice. ENOUGH!

Prime minister, you need to do a number of unprecedented things NOW.

1. Speak to the nation with the aforementioned persons around you. Use the creativity shown by advertising firms during elections to have a clear, powerful message made and have the TV stations rebroadcast this at their expense in the national interest every day with the same frequency and intensity when the election messages were bombarding us.
2. Co-opt the DJs sound system owners, discos to create voice-overs with strong, powerful street messages played at every session as a rule.
3. Order radio stations to stop playing all gun-related garbage now and anyone promoting ''informer fe dead'' must be treated as a criminal and charged for inciting murder.
4. Invite churches, service clubs, schools, businesses to dedicate a half day per month to do community service work to spread the message.
ENOUGH!


We need to ‘hang together’ as a country and as a region, or we shall ‘hang separately’.

Last Visited : July 7, 2008 : http://www.pamdemocrat.org/Newspaper/Details.cfm?Nz=*4W!P5IN%3DDWNO10%20%20%0A&Iz=%23*%22%3CD%0A