And there's one more dimension to this ongoing ordeal. Yes, the UDP members are going to reject the payment, but there's also major shade being thrown at the highest court in the land, the Caribbean Court of Justice. Last week it was Party Whip Michael Finnegan and today it was former Attorney General Wilfred Elrington. Now, Elrington just lost a case involving a personal business dealing at the court earlier this month - and he said he got a raw deal from a court whose competence he clearly was not impressed with:...
Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Minister of Foreign Affairs
"It is ironic that it is under our administration that we signed on to the CCJ."
Jules Vasquez
"You voted for it, you were UDP."
Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"I voted for it, I advocated for it but I had personal experience with them and I can tell you that the decision that they gave against me was wrong both in law and in fact. And I am not afraid to say that. I am bound to honor it but it is completely and totally wrong. I thought they were very hostile to me and I said that from the time I came out. I had never seen a more hostile court than this one. And they simply continued to repeat the arguments that Courtney was making to them. So, that has turned me off tremendously from any support I had for the CCJ. I am really very disappointed."
Jules Vasquez
"So, if you had to make the decision again today to advocate and vote in the parliament to go to the CCJ what would be your vote today?"
Hon. Wilfred Elrington
"I would not encourage anybody to do so. You have five judges sitting at the CCJ but only one writes a decision. And they hardly have any work to do as far as I am concerned. To my mind, the least that they could do is have each one of them write a decision."
The CCJ is the court of final appeal for Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana. The court has failed to win over the confidence of other CARICOM member states who still keep their ties to the Privy Council.
