Removal of the Privy Council

You want to know what I believe is the real reason why some intellectuals do not want the Privy Council to be removed and the CCJ finally installed as the final Court of Appeal for the Caribbean...

Attachment disorder...

Like when a child cannot let go of her/his mother's skirt tails...like a 40 year old man that bums at home with the ability to take care of himself but refusing to do so...or the woman who 'sacrifices' her freedom by taking care of her parents because she is afraid to stand on her own two feet in the world.

The old-boy's club of lawyers in the region do not want to release Mother England...despite the prejudices of race and culture that they faced during their law studies in the 1960's and 1970's. They love the chance to become Queen's Counsel and new suits from Saville Row and the chance to spout about socializing at the Inn dinners.

Because we apparently, in the Caribbean cannot cook good food, tailor fine suits and a paltry Senior Counsel title is insufficient to satisfy them. Not mention our ability to adjudicate upon matters...seemingly an impossibility if you listen to the pundits. Read today's article on bbccaribbean.com on the Privy Council - at least one of them wants us to set up shop down here.

Sir James asks how many law books have been written by Caribbean authors...Fiadjoe, Kodiliyne, Alexis, McIntosh, Antoine, clearly escaped his reading list. What about the various legal manuscripts and papers that are produced by Bar Associations throughout the region?

Is it to say that every legal issue has been tackled by Caribbean legal minds by way of thick volumes? No, but can we deny that we have been dealing with them for decades and are more attuned to the social, cultural and legal elements that exist within our Caribbean civilisation. It would seem that the inevitable outcome would be a homegrown judicial system.

Why do we question the ability of our learned legal minds to effectively give justice to our people...is it that we are indeed questioning ourselves?

Self-determination must occur at some time...or shall we flail in the shadows of the Privy Council until they remove themselves as our final Court of Appeal. Guess you never thought of that possibility?