Opposition to give senate copy of Privy Council’s letter offering to sit in Jamaica
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition senator Marlene Malahoo Forte says she will provide the Senate with a copy of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s (JCPC) letter to the Jamaican government, five years ago, offering to sit in Kingston.
Senator Malahoo Forte agreed to provide Senate President Floyd Morris with a copy of the letter, after he made the request during yesterday’s sitting of the Senate.
The Senate was debating three bills proposing the replacement of the JCPC with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), as Jamaica’s final court of appeal.
During her contribution to the debate, the senator referred to the letter and read from it, confirming Wednesday’s report carried by the Jamaica Observer of the April, 2010 offer, which was a response to enquiries from the then Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government on the London-based court’s portability.
Senator Malahoo Forte, who was a senator and minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade at the time, confirmed that the request was made at the behest of then Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding.
She also admitted that ensuing events in Jamaica, including the 2011 general election which the JLP lost, and the Manatt/Coke commission of enquiry, might have contributed to the then government’s failure to pursue the matter.
However, Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding said that, since the Observer broke the story, his ministry has been searching for a copy of the JCPC’s response without success.
“This is a letter ostensibly written to the Minister of Justice, and the ministry does not have a copy of that letter, yet it is being presented and read in the Senate by a member of the Opposition. I think it is irregular, and I would like to get a copy of the letter ourselves,” Golding commented, after rising on a point of order.
“I will make it available,” Malahoo Forte responded. However, she insisted that there was nothing improper about having a copy.
“Mr President, I have been doing work on the reform of the Jamaican Justice system from before I was qualified as an attorney…and I have in my possession a lot of documents, because I research and I keep documents. There is nothing improper about it, absolutely nothing,” she said.
