Outgoing President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Justice Adrian Saunders, is rejecting claims that the CCJ is not independent from political interference.
Mr. Saunders made the statement on Tuesday after the swearing in of Nigerian-born Justice Chile Eboe Osuji as a CCJ judge.
“I can vouch for the judges of the CCJ, the predecessor judges of the CCJ, the current bench, that they are all persons of impeccable integrity. So this notion that, well, the CCJ might be good but it’s susceptible to political interference, is rubbish.”
In mid-March, then Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a plea to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to move away from the Privy Council and install the CCJ as the country’s final appellate court.
Despite Trinidad and Tobago not having the CCJ as its final court of appeal, although being the location for its headquarters, Mr. Saunders said the court is not “fixated” on that issue and caters to the five countries that send their appeals.
“I have no doubt that in due course, when the time is right, when the government of Trinidad and Tobago, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago, the people of Trinidad and Tobago wish that time to come, that Trinidad will be a member of the CCJ. It’s a question of time, and that is a time which people of Trinidad and Tobago would have to determine for themselves.”
Justice Saunders said certain narratives circulated in the public domain continue to damage the reputation of the CCJ in the minds of some people.
“We would all, as Caribbean people, do well to follow the injunction of Brother Bob when he speaks about emancipating ourselves. For too long, we allow ourselves to, without evidence, as I said, be distrustful of our institutions, of our officialdom, with no just cause.”
But he pointed out that the CCJ continues to maintain its independence.
“Our funding is the envy of courts throughout the world because we do not interface with any political directorate in order to secure our funds. Our judges are appointed, as I mentioned, by a transparent and merit-filled basis.”
Newly minted judge of the CCJ, Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji, said he believes the CCJ has a model that the rest of the world should follow, that reduces the tendency for political interference.
“The trust fund that was set up in such a way that you don’t have the administration of the CCJ, the President of the Court, the Registrar of the court going cap in hand every biannual budget to plead for funding, operational funding. You don’t have that at a CCJ, but you do have that at other international courts.”