In November of last year, you heard 2 UDP parliamentarians complain about the Caribbean Court of Justice, the final appeals court for Belize, Barbados, Dominica, and Guyana. Well, Freundel Stuart, the Prime Minister of Barbados who is seeking re-election, has promised that if his Democratic Labour Party wins tomorrow's general elections, his country will be withdrawing from the CCJ as its final court.
News out of of Barbados on Saturday quoted him speaking at a national meeting, where he said that Barbados was the first to join the court, and it could be the first to leave.
He is quoted as saying, "I am not going to have Barbados disrespected by politicians wearing robes… I don't subscribe to disrespect and I think that the attitude coming from Port of Spain leaves much to be desired in terms of how it is treating Barbados…"
The Jamaica Gleaner Newspaper has since written a scathing editorial piece pointing out that Prime Minister Stuart is going against his Party's history, and his own support of Barbados joining the court, back in 2004, when he was in Opposition.
The Gleaner's editorial talks about, quote, "the pettiness and seeming absence of logic in which the prime minister grounded his assertion. Mr Stuart, a one-time proponent of the CCJ, offered no reason for (GOING) against the court except for a vague claim that its judges are disrespectful of Barbados. The likely truth is that he is dissatisfied with the rulings of the court that highlighted his government's contravention of the law.…" End quote.
The two cases of importance that the Gleaner is referring to is the Shanique Myrie lawsuit of 2013, and Professor Eddy Ventose litigation of this year.
In 2013, the CCJ ruled that Barbados violated Jamaican Shanique Myrie's right to free movement as a CARICOM Citizen when she was subjected to a traumatizing body cavity search in a deplorable detention center.
Then, Professor Eddy Ventose, a St. Lucian who teaches law at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill in Barbados, challenged the Barbadian election officials and won his right to vote in tomorrow'sgeneral elections. He was being excluded from the voter's list for the elections, but the CCJ ordered that Professor Ventose, who has been living in Barbados for some time, is to be added to list of registered voters in Barbados. The Chief Electoral Officer was instructed to get it done by noon on Monday.
The Chief Electoral Officer was warned by the outgoing CCJ President, Sir Dennis Byron, that failure to uphold the ruling may lead to contempt of court proceedings.
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