Dear Editor,

I was one of the many who chastised Prime Minister Andrew Holness when he appointed Bryan Sykes acting chief justice.

His thinking at the time was that a probationary period would reveal whether Judge Sykes was the best person to be appointed to the job of chief justice. However, many of us said the executive arm of Government shouldn’t interfere with the judiciary.

Recently, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes and the President of the Court of Appeal Patrick Brooks appeared to be following suit by interfering with the executive and legislative arms of Government by giving their unsolicited opinions.

Jamaica’s final court is a political matter and it is for the voters to decide. Why are the chief justice and the president of the court of appeal so triggered by many Jamaicans not having faith in the judiciary in Jamaica and the Caribbean via the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)? Why don’t they advocate for having a final appellate court in Jamaica instead the Caribbean? How are we being truly independent by leaving the Privy Council for the CCJ?

I believe most Jamaicans are patriots and also individualists. An innocent man wants justice regardless of whether that is to be found in the United Kingdom.

My position is already known. I want the Privy Council, not the CCJ. But, if we are planning to leave the Privy Council, our final appellate court should be on Jamaican soil.

Chief Justice Sykes and President Patrick Brooks must remove themselves from any pending cases dealing with sovereignty as both have shown their biases as regionalists.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is, in my opinion, a nationalist party and not a regionalist or globalist party, so I don’t understand why Prime Minister Andrew Holness has appointed two men to the judiciary who are clearly not in favour of the Privy Council and are pro-CCJ. Is the JLP all of sudden becoming pro-CCJ?

The last poll I saw on the CCJ, conducted by pollster Bill Johnson, found that 49 per cent of respondents agreed that Jamaica should do away with the Privy Council and use the CCJ as its final appellate court; 25 per cent did not agree; and 26 per cent did not have an opinion. The poll clearly shows that less than 50 per cent of the respondents were in support of removing the Privy Council.

Any future poll should ask whether Jamaicans want the CCJ or a final appellate court in Jamaica. I can bet that most Jamaicans would say they want their own court on Jamaican soil.

Teddylee Gray

Ocho Rios, St Ann

teddylee.gray@gmail.com