Castries, St Lucia.
Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony says he expects opposition support when his government tables legislation allowing the island to move towards the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final court.
According to Anthony, a former law lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), said the recent “opinion” handed down by the OECS Court of Appeal means that “the government of St. Lucia will lay before parliament legislation to accede to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
“Obviously, I would prefer if the legislation was supported by the opposition, given the fact that the former Prime Minister, (Sir) John Compton, made pronouncements supporting the Caribbean Court of Justice. Of course, there are people who are interested in invoking his (Compton’s) history for different purposes,’ Anthony said, although he gave no immediate time frame for St. Lucia’s transition from the London-based Privy Council to the CCJ," the Prime Minister told the press
But the government is anticipating challenges to the May 24 “opinion” by the OECS Court of Appeal, which effectively said St. Lucia does not need to have a national referendum to break with the Privy Council.
Anthony said that the responsibility of his government is to obey the Constitution by following the route prescribed for amending the Supreme Court Order.
“If we can avoid a referendum, clearly it is in the interest of the country. A referendum is an expensive business and, as you well know, our political parties, because of opportunism sometimes, do not all join hands on an issue of a referendum. The history of referenda in the Caribbean has not always been a good history", Anthony said.
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