JAMAICA-Head of Anglican Church urges Government to make CCJ final appellate court.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—The Andrew Holness led is urged to join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the island’s final appellate court.

This time, the call is being made by the Head of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the West Indies, Dr. Howard Gregory, as he delivered a sermon earlier this week to open the 153rd Synod – the annual meeting of senior officials of the Anglican Church.

“We must also support and advocate for the Caribbean Court of Justice becoming the final appellate court for this nation and the region and stop claiming that we cannot trust our Caribbean jurists to act with integrity,” Gregory said.

He questioned the integrity of the continuous delay in making the CCJ Jamaica’s final court, where litigants can take their cases to be heard after they are completed in the country’s justice system.

The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supports a national referendum to determine whether Jamaica should accede to the appellate division of the CCJ replacing the UK’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

However, Gregory questioned the integrity of the continuous delay in making the CCJ Jamaica’s final court, where litigants can take their cases to be heard after they are completed in the country’s justice system.

“And so I pose the question if we cannot trust our jurists, on what basis should we trust any other institution of governance within our nation and the region to defend justice and act with integrity?”

Gregory also called for a more significant push toward constitutional reforms to advance the transformation of Jamaica from the shackles of colonialism into an independent Republican state.

“Additionally, we must support and advocate for the setting up the announced process of constitutional reform to enable the country to achieve Republican status within the Commonwealth,” he charged.

Located in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the CCJ settles disputes between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states. While Jamaica and 14 other CARICOM states are members of the CCJ, the United Kingdom’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains its last resort in civil and criminal matters.

However, the CCJ is the highest court of appeal on civil and criminal matters for four CARICOM member states: Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and Guyana.