ROSE HALL, St James — Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding is urging Opposition Senators against voting along party lines on three Bills proposing to make the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the island’s final court of appeal.

“The Super Eight Opposition Senators must dig deep and do the right thing, and thereby ensure that in this fundamental matter, the Bill is passed with bipartisan support,” Golding said during the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers fourth biennial conference at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel late last week.

The three Bills — which are proposing to entrench the CCJ into the Constitution of Jamaica, replacing the UK-based Privy Council — will be debated in the Senate in October.

The House of Representatives has already passed the Bills by a two-thirds majority vote.

But the Opposition, which voted against the bills in the House of Representatives, has signalled that it will also oppose them in the Senate.

The Bills need a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to be passed. This means that at least one of the eight Opposition senators would have to vote with the 13 Government senators to make it a reality.

“While we admire and respect judges of the UK Supreme Court, who… also comprise the Privy Council, we say without hesitation that the judges of the CCJ are at least as erudite and are better suited to our needs and aspirations as a people,” Golding said.

He added: “I therefore wish to use this opportunity to make the call for political consensus between the Government and the Opposition in fulfilling this most critical element of our national independence. I say today to Jamaica’s eight Opposition senators that they should not etch their names forever on the wrong side of history.”