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Trinidad and the CCJ –Still loitering

user1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:27:54 +0000

by Sir Ronald Sanders

Just in case it has escaped careful attention, the Trinidad and Tobago government does not intend to abolish appeals to the British Privy Council for civil and constitutional matters. Careful reading of the statement, made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Parliament on April 25th, clearly shows that the Government’s intention is to introduce legislation to abolish appeals to the Privy Council only “in all criminal matters”. The Prime Minister was clear that only criminal matters “would be ceded to the Caribbean Court of Justice” (CCJ).

What the Trinidad and Tobago government is doing, therefore, is accommodating a half-way house. It is by no means embracing the CCJ fully as the final Court of Appeal for all matters as Barbados, Belize and Guyana have done. And, this decision has been taken despite the fact that in her statement, the Prime Minister said: “It is almost axiomatic that the Caribbean Community should have its own final Court of Appeal in all matters (my emphasis); that the West Indies at the highest level of jurisprudence should be West Indian.

A century old tradition of erudition and excellence in the legal profession of the Region leaves no room for hesitancy in our Caribbean region”.

Yet, hesitancy there is. And the hesitancy – called “caution and gradualism” by the Prime Minister – seems to be a concern that foreign investors might shy away from Trinidad and Tobago if they could not appeal to the British Privy Council.

The Prime Minister specifically said the Privy Council “has an international reputation as being one of the finest commercial and civil law courts in the world. It inspires confidence in foreign investors”.

The further justification made by the Prime Minister for retaining the Privy Council in civil and constitutional matters is that it “is conducive to an investor-friendly climate at a time when the international economic order is changing and Trinidad and Tobago is attempting to woo foreign investment from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries”. But, none of these countries appeal to the Privy Council. Indeed, in the cases of India and South Africa – both Commonwealth countries like Trinidad and Tobago – they both abolished appeals to British Privy Council in all matters in 1950. On the evidence of investment in, and growth of, the economies of India and South Africa, leaving the Privy Council has not adversely affected foreign investment in them.

For the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago, utilizing the CCJ both as a Court of Original Jurisdiction in respect of the Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and as a final appellate Court for criminal matters, is better use of their money than is now the case where Trinidad and Tobago draws on the Court only for matters related to the CARICOM Treaty.

And, while this is a welcome advance on the previous position of the Trinidad and Tobago government not to move jurisdiction of any matters from the Privy Council, the half-way approach does not dispense with many difficulties and raises new ones.

There is little doubt that had the Trinidad and Tobago government decided to embrace the CCJ fully, every other government in the Caribbean Community – including Jamaica – would have acted similarly.

But, there has always been a concern in other countries that Trinidad and Tobago fought for the CCJ’s headquarters on the understanding that it would become a full member of the Court but it has not done so.

This issue remains unresolved by the government’s decision to retain appeals to the Privy Council for civil and constitutional matters.

Other countries might also take the view that they too are entitled to retain the Privy Council for civil and constitutional matters in order to “woo foreign investment”. Even if they don’t take such a view, and they do proceed to abolish all appeals to the Privy Council in favour of the CCJ, the anomaly will still exist of the Court being headquartered in a country which is not a full member.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar also indicated that even while the government’s intended legislation would give jurisdiction to the CCJ on criminal matters, the Court would be on probation. She said: “We will continue to monitor the developments taking place in both the JCPC (Privy Council) and CCJ including the quality of their decisions in deciding the future course of our judicial system”. However, she had already pronounced on the quality of the Privy Council when in the same statement she said: “It inspires confidence in foreign investors”. Hence, it appears that it is the CCJ whose decisions will be monitored for “quality”.

Despite all this, it took some political courage for Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to cede final appellate jurisdiction on any matters to the CCJ.

It is well-known that, prior to the general elections which brought her to office, there was considerable hostility to the CCJ amongst the membership of her party – the United National Congress. For such courage she should be applauded and encouraged. It may well be that in going no further, she has judged what the political traffic could bear among her own supporters.

Still, the decision amounts to continuing to loiter on the doorsteps of the colonial past almost fifty years after Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago secured their independence from Britain.

One spokesman for the Privy Council, Lord Phillips, indicated in 2009 that “in an ideal world, Commonwealth countries — including those in the Caribbean — would stop using the Privy Council and set up their own final courts of appeal instead”.

That was typical British understatement for saying it is time to go.

So, while the movement of the Trinidad and Tobago government should be welcomed as an advance, the Caribbean and the process of regionalization might not be sufficiently well-served by it. Full membership of the CCJ by all CARICOM states would better reflect the region’s maturity and confidence in itself.

Responses and previous commentaries at: www.sirronaldsanders.com

House of Payne

user1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:18:29 +0000

I can recall in school reading a story about a man who would leave work every night pushing a wheelbarrow of saw dust past the security guard and out of the factory.

I believe the man must have been stopped once or twice by the security guard and the standard probe of the sawdust undertaken to see if anything might have been concealed within. Nothing was ever found.

Many years after there was a chance meeting between the fellow and the security guard and the latter’s curiosity got the better of him and he went over and asked the fellow thus: “I could never figure what you were taking away in those wheelbarrows every so often. It could not have been the sawdust because nobody would take such a risk for some so invaluable.”

The man did not linger but as the duo parted ways he looked over his shoulder and said to the security guard “it wasn’t sawdust I was stealing but the wheelbarrows,” he said.

The moral of this story is that oftentimes, the more you look the less you see.

By the same token it must be that some things are not as they appear to be.

Take for instance the following: You are driving down a road not normally frequented by motorists. There ahead of you is a policeman and a couple of other individuals. There is a car bumper and a fender on the ground and the policeman has his tape and notebook out and is looking very busy. You drive along and figure you just passed the scene of an accident but lo and behold, the fellow was actually taking measurements and making notes to ensure what he had just stripped from one vehicle can fit properly on another.

Bet you thought I was going to talk about the officer that was behind the wheel of a van that struck a teenager on Fort Road. By the way, the last person that got hit really badly on that road was not hit by an officer too?

Folks, I don’t know about you but I am really getting a little bit fidgety with this every week story of some policeman getting caught up in crime. It it’s not robbery its assault or if it’s not murder its car theft. Who are these people and who can tell me that if a policeman flags me down on the street in the dead of night I should stop and see what the good officer wants. For that to happen they had better have plenty vehicles marked POLICE and outfitted with flashing lights and all. In fact, they had better have Errol Cort and Prime Minister Spencer standing with them so that I can know they are bona fide.

Now here lies a serious problem with law enforcement in this country and the matter props up time and time again. I have a hard time figuring who people should fear more if it’s ONDCP or the regular force. Right now, all in Golden Grove ONDCP is getting collars. What a thing because like those guys not telling the police when they are on to something big. What you mean you are wondering why? Just ease off the dangerous boat see.

Speaking of the dangerous boat ca somebody tell me what’s happening up at the airport? I see nice big crane and thing but like the work hit bedrock. What’s up with that?

That was just a little aside but I also want Banks or Nando or anybody who can to tell me about the Benna Boys squad and the Barracudas squad and whether or not they are one and the same. I mean, I don’t really know because nobody invited News Pages to the big launch and nobody invited News Pages to the last press conference. Right now I there is some ugly duckling syndrome going on around these parts.

Anyway, I was told the full squad is still practicing but I have heard from others that this is not so and that it is only the Barracudas fellows and those playing in England are still in things. Like somebody is going to have to write a calypso about this whole Benna thing.

By the way, I was told to listen to Oungku’s Benna Boys Ready song and to listen to the names which he calls out. I almost died with laughter when the fellow said that when Oungku wrote the song he already knew the team to be selected. You think Antiguans and Barbudans easy?

All this is fun but I must say that I am looking forward to my two favourite seasons, one closer than the other.

In a few weeks the country’s Carnival will be well and truly on and with that will come all sorts of fun. I am already hearing that the calypso arena will be full of action but that most of it will unfold at the eleventh hour thereby creating the suitable bacchanal that comes annually with our Carnival.

The next session is a little ways away, I think, but the action has already started to show up for general elections.

I won’t say anything about Sunday’s whistle stop because there will be some people who would immediately say that I am on the other side.

Meanwhile the Chinese in Antigua might be well sharpening their kung fu skills to deal with that pesky bunch of protesters who just don’t seem to want to go away.

Still, with all of this I would not trade Antigua and Barbuda for anywhere else in the world. This country real, real nice!

WHAT GOES UP…

user1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:15:50 +0000

It is said that the reason so many people buy BMWs is that it is the only vehicle brand name they can spell. Some wits then play with the initials and you get “Brings Me Women”, “Bavarian Murder Weapon” and “Big Money Waste”.

However, BMW as “Beautiful Mechanical Wonder” and “Best Motorbike Worldwide” might have been the reason that Henry Wolf bought a 1993 BMW Motorbike but it is another play on the BMW brand name that brought him grief. In his case BMW meant “Bothered My Willy.”

Henry Wolf, a California man, said that he changed the seat on his motorbike and bought an after-market “ridged” seat which sells for about US$200 or more. These are supposedly more comfortable than the standard motorbike seats.

They can be customized for the user and some come heated. Mr. Wolf did not say if his seat was heated but even if it was the heat seems to have been transferred to the wrong place.

Mr. Wolf claims that after a four-hour ride in 2010 using the “ridged” seat he developed a case of “priapism” or “long-lasting erection”. The condition is named after the Greek god, Priapus, who is normally depicted with a huge erection. He is the protector of livestock, vegetable gardens and male genitalia though not in that particular order. Statues of Priapus were common in ancient Greece and Rome, standing in gardens or at doorways and crossroads. To propitiate Priapus, the traveller would stroke the statue’s penis as he passed by.

For those of us unable to avoid the Cialis commercials, “priapism” is what they warn you about when they say to contact your doctor if you have an erection that lasts more than four hours. Of course if it last two years you contact your lawyer, which is what Mr. Wolfe did. However, like the Cialis commercial, let me give you a warning. If without reading the rest of the story you feel the urge to run off and buy a BMW motorbike with a ridged seat, wait four hours and then decide.

After two years of priapism, normally considered an emergency medical condition, Mr. Wolf has sued BMW and the seat-makers, Corbin-Pacific. Claiming that both the design of the bike and the seat were responsible, Mr. Wolf wants to get back his lost wages and medical expenses, and to be compensated for emotional distress and “general damage.” Mr. Wolf’s lawyer, Vernon Bradley, said that Wolf «has been experiencing continuing problems since his motorcycle ride and is now unable to engage in sexual activity, which is causing him substantial emotional and mental anguish.»

The lawsuit is as unusual a case as Mr. Wolf’s experience (I would have said “hair-raising” but that would not be accurate).

There are doubts whether Mr. Wolf was on the up-and-up or wanted to get as big a raise from BMW and Corbin-Pacific as he claimed to have got on the bike. Perhaps, as one wit said, he wanted to take the two companies for a ride. Others said he was crying wolf. BMW claims that the bike itself was not the problem and don’t see why they should be saddled with the lawsuit. A few people are even commending Mr. Wolf for taking a stand on such an important male issue. Clearly, it is a High Court matter and everything is still up in the air.

It seems that if motorbike seats affect your sex-life at all it is more like a downward than an upward spiral. A blog, “All About Bikes” notes that there have been several instances alleging erectile dysfunction as a result of narrow motorcycle seats and this appears to be the first case where a medical condition with the exact opposite effect has been alleged.

Michigan Institute of Urology›s Dr. Michael Luts said there is no medical data to support Wolf›s claim. He cited evidence that riding a motorcycle for an extended period of time typically works against the body›s ability to achieve sexual arousal.

Dr. Luts explained, “It›s been long-known that compression of the neurovascular supply to the penis – if it›s compressed for a period of time, whether it be on a bicycle seat or some other device – it can actually cause prolonged numbness of the genitalia.” Dr. Luts says that not only men, but women can also get numbness in that region if they’re compressing those nervous structures to that region of the body.

One of my friends who had seen the story of Henry Wolf asked pointedly, “What’s his problem?” Of course the last time I spoke to him about a corporal punishment problem in a Trinidad school where a woman was reportedly suspended for spanking kids, his response was, “There are some men who pay good money for that.” You also pay good money for any erectile dysfunction problem so if you’re tempted to go out and buy a BMW bike, you better think long and hard.*Tony Deyal was last seen saying that most motorbike problems are caused by the nut between the handlebars and the saddle.

Changes for Jaycees Show 2012

user1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:10:21 +0000

Here comes a Show with A Difference ~ A show which will exceed your expectation ~ A show with “A Galaxy of Enchanted Royalties” at the Antigua Recreation Ground on Friday August 3rd, 2012. It is the New Era of The Jaycees Queen Show which is now in its 51st year.

The Chairman of this year’s show, Joseph “Billy” Francis, commenced work in December 2011 with a team of dedicated volunteers. The committee members include: Assistant Chairperson – VP Winston Harris, Treasurer – VP Andrea Dickenson, Secretary – JC Jannelle Ambrose, Sub-Chairpersons for the respective areas:- PVP Melvin Anderson: Judges; Preshow – VP Ricardo Lambert also holding the post of Ex-Officio; PNVP Alexis Murray- Supporting Show; PP Keith Herbert- Stage Management; PVP Maurice Agard –Security & Gate Control; Andrea Bartley-Entertainment/Hospitality; JCI Sen. Faye Edwards – Protocol/Accreditation; Grounds/Layout- JC Malicia James; Public Relations & Marketing- JCI Senators Leandra James and Donna Francis respectively; Local Chaperon – JC Annie John Baptiste; Transportation – PTRO Adrian Thomas; Magazine – PP Joan Augustine; Ex Officios are: President Delacy Isaac and Treasurer Phil Rose and Advisors to the committee are: JCI Senators – Leslie Emmanuel and Harry Hobson, and Past NOM SG Monique Francis-Gordon

Due to some of the challenges the show has encountered over the last few years and with recommendations from the public, the 2012 Jaycees Queen Show will bring a significant amount of changes that will entice the Local, Regional and Global Community and at the same time create an avenue that will ensure the longevity and viability of the show. The committee has introduced an elimination process in this year’s pageant, where on the night of the show only the ten best will go forward and then a further selection of the Top Five contestants for the final elimination process. .” A Pre-Show will be scheduled to facilitate the elimination process. Coming soon during the month of May is the launch of the official website www.jayceesqueenshow.com .

As we continue to honour the last tenet of our creed; “Service to Humanity is the Best Work of Life”; this year’s committee will seek to align the show to participate in the United Nation System contributing to the Millennium Development Goal #3 “Empower Women”. Invitation letters have already been sent out inviting young ladies from the region to participate in this grand affair. Based on the responses received to date the intended participants will bring life to our theme; “A Galaxy of Enchanted Royalties,” with our tagline being – “empowering women through pageantry. The 2011 Jaycees Caribbean Queen is Ms. Iantavian Queeley of St. Kitts.

JCI is a worldwide membership-based nonprofit organization of young active citizen’s ages 18 to 40 who are dedicated to creating positive change in their communities. Through projects in more than 5,000 communities across more than 100 countries, members seek targeted solutions to local problems, creating a global impact.

Child Friendly Schools Initiative (CFS) in Antigua and Barbuda moves ahead

user1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:09:22 +0000

: Participants in the Review and Sharing Workshop session. (Photo courtesy: Desiree Antonio, Ministry of Education)

The Child Friendly Schools framework addresses all factors that affect quality in the school environment.

It is intended to transform schools and education systems towards quality standards particularly addressing all elements that influence the well-being and rights of the child as a learner, the MAIN beneficiary of teaching, with all things taking place in a safe, healthy and holistic environment. Child-centredness, Democratic Participation and Inclusiveness are the key principles of the model.

The CFS term evokes several misconceptions in people even within the teaching profession. Persons may say: My school is already Child Friendly; or they may ask: Aren’t schools supposed to be Child Friendly? or the very broad proclamation may be echoed – All schools are child friendly.

However, when a survey is taken and measured against the expectations of what a child friendly school should represent, we recognize there is quite a lot that needs to be addressed to get to the ‘quality’ synonymous with Child Friendly schools.

Our public primary schools in Antigua and Barbuda have all been working to adopt this UNICEF CFS approach to school improvement since 2008 when it was implemented in one of our schools.

As expected, some schools are more child friendly ready and advanced than others. In short though, the term is a constant reminder to us that our schools should be child friendly as we do everything in the best interest of the child.

Last Thursday, a review and sharing meeting was held with principals and members of their CFS teams to garner support and encouragement from each other.

The nearly 100 participants received feedback from a study done by Education for Change Consultancy on the evaluation of CFS progress in Dominica and Barbados, two countries that are more advanced in the initiative.

Participants also shared their concerns, challenges and offered possible solutions to these.

Funding for school activities and greater buy-in from some teachers in schools were cited as hindrances to the advancement of CFs in schools.

Data collection and management has been one of the weak areas throughout the Caribbean. Dr. Cynthia Crump-Russell, Assistant Director of Education with responsibility for Curriculum, provided further information and support for participants to engage in more purposeful data gathering and reporting at their schools.

The Ministry of Education CFS Focal Point, Desiree Antonio, shared the CFS plans into 2016 to include: expansion of CFS to all secondary schools, establishment of school councils in all schools, retraining of teachers in Health & Family Life Education and training for teachers in positive behavior management and student-centred pedagogy, to name a few.

The plans focus on increased advocacy for CFS which will lead to further contacts and organized sessions with businesses, NGOs and other persons in civil society with the hope of accomplishing greater buy-in of CFS and foster stronger linkages in these areas with schools.

CFS is said to be a way of life for schools not only in Antigua and Barbuda but in other Caribbean territories. Greater buy-in throughout the Caribbean is also being addressed this year by UNICEF as can be seen from a review and planning meeting held in Dominica last month.

Top-level educators to include: Chef Education Officers, Education Officers and principals from Anguilla in the north to Tobago in the south participated in the 3-day sessions.

Present also was a PAHO representative who pledged to work closer with UNICEF to provide assistance in the area of Health and Marcellus Albertin, Director of the OECS Education Reform Unit, who from his office, could integrate areas of CFS within the OECS Education strategy going forward to the next few years.