Debate opens on CCJ

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday appealed for bipartisan approval of three bills before Parliament seeking to have the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) established as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

Her call came even as she knocked the Andrew Holness-led Opposition for being caught up with “self-interest” and not recognising that most Jamaicans cannot access the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.

In opening the debate on the bills, Simpson Miller argued that the Privy Council is fundamentally inaccessible to the vast majority of Jamaicans and that litigants and their Jamaican lawyers need visas to travel to the United Kingdom.

Read more Jamaica Gleaner