In a recent meeting with the Integrity Commission, Opposition Leader Mark Golding reaffirmed his party’s monolithic commitment to the primacy of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) being essential to his party’s participation in the process of constitutional reform.

He has been steadfast in holding the position that if consideration of the CCJ is not part of the discussion in phase one of the reform process they will not support the effort. In fact, the leader has threatened to pull his party from the process if his demands are not met.

It is difficult to fathom what is at the centre of the Peoples National Party’s (PNP) obstinacy in this matter. Why do they believe that the CCJ is such a sacred cow that they are willing to hold the entire project hostage to this one matter? Do they think that the majority of Jamaicans are as exercised about the CCJ as they seem to be? How much do their own constituents know about the Caribbean court, or constitutional reform for that matter, for it to hold such a place of primacy in the party? Or is there a kind of elitist thinking in the party which subscribes to a notion that what a few think is good for the rest and they must just go along with it.

The truth is that there has never been any robust discussion of the CCJ in the Jamaican public space. I am old enough to remember that when the subject was first introduced to the public by the P J Patterson Administration it did not gain any traction with the people.

There seemed to have been indecent haste on the part of the part of that Administration to get the task accomplished and find scarce public funds to ensure that it did go through. Talk about elitist thinking! We spent millions of dollars to ensure that this pet project succeeded. Even now, with all that spend, Jamaica has not acceded to it as its final appellate jurisdiction.

To now seek to pin it or append it to the larger matters to be dealt with in phase one of the reform process when there has been no national discussion on the matter is at best disingenuous.

The truth is that there has been no determination as to where our final appellate jurisdiction should lie. There are those who argue for the retention of the privy council in London. Others, like myself, believe that if we are going to repatriate our final court then it should be brought home to Jamaica and not allowed to languish in a halfway house in Trinidad, Barbados, or anywhere else. This is still my position on the matter.

National sovereignty, which Golding likes to trumpet, demands this. We must remove the impediments that prevent the ordinary Jamaican from receiving final justice in his own country. It is no less financially and logistically burdensome to seek that justice in London than it is in Trinidad.

A Jamaican seeking final justice should not need to go beyond Kingston to get it. Notwithstanding the digital accommodations that can be made, he should not be saddled with the extraneous burden of getting his legal matters finally settled outside his own country. This simple fact is lost on Golding and all those who seem not to understand the pains that ordinary people have to go through to get justice in our country. The CCJ is just one option among three. It is certainly not a settled matter in the minds of many Jamaicans.

‘Emperor’ Donald Trump

By the time this piece is published, Donald J Trump would have been inaugurated the 47th president of the United States. This is his second stand at the wicket. How he defends it or bats recklessly at balls wide of his off-stump will be seen very early in his presidency. What seems clear to me is that there will be no neat, timely, disciplined “Yagga” Rowe-like piling up of runs on the scoreboard of civility, decency, and empathy for the ordinary American.

As I have noted in this space before, his second iteration will be an exercise in chaotic governance as he seeks to carry out the most egregious implications of his policies. This time around, thanks to the supreme court and the mission he believes he has received from the people, he is more emboldened and will do and say things that will flabbergast not only Americans, but the world.

We will see the beginnings of the promises he has made to implement on “day one”. Readers will recall that I have stated in this space that this will entail the signing of a plethora of executive orders as he seeks to roll back policies of President Joe Biden, which he regards with disdain, and dismantle regulations which have served the country well over the years. This is especially so with regard to environmental matters and the necessary constraints placed on corporate greed, especially in the banking sector.

I have predicted that in his first 100 days in office he will have signed more executive orders than any other president in living memory. A lot of lawyers are going to be enriched as attempts are made to stop him in the courts.

This time around Trump believes that he has a resounding mandate from the people. He interprets this to mean that he has been absolved or exonerated of any crimes that he might have committed in the past. The fact that people were prepared to look past his involvement in the insurrection at the Capitol; the various criminal indictments against him; his being found guilty by a jury of his peers in a hush money crime with a porn star; and his insidious and unworthy behaviour on the campaign trail make him think that that he can do or say anything. This is so especially since he believes he has the cover of immunity given to him by the Supreme Court. So not only does he feel exonerated from all crimes, but it will be hard to pin any crime on him that he might commit while in office.

This is why he is beginning to sound like an emperor, threatening countries like Canada, Panama, and Greenland, and like Saul of biblical fame, breathing out threats about the use he will make of tariffs. Given his impulsivity — born of his gut-instinct assessment of important issues; his inability to see the implications of his actions because of the absence of deep philosophical thought and judgement which the presidency demands; his transactional personal ethos; and his belief in his impeccable ability to fix things — I do not hold out any hope that he will not do serious harm to the country. But I could be wrong. I pray to God that I am wrong.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He host a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his You Tube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.