Patrick Manning told supporters of his People's National Movement (PNM) in Sangre Grande Monday night his government is giving active consideration to introducing a Ministry of Justice as part of the proposed reform of the Constitution.The prime minister said the proposed ministry would deal with the Judiciary and aspects of the crime problem in the country. And he said the Judiciary would have to account to the proposed ministry.
"A Ministry of Justice has the responsibility to provide all that the Judiciary requires to be able to exercise independently their independent function…and the best way we believe that could now be done is by way of a Ministry of Justice," Manning said.
However he admitted that there are some dangers in the proposal, especially the possibility of political encroachment on the independence of the juridical system.
He said the way to go about this is in collaboration with and on the basis of discussions with the Judiciary and the agreed position must be enshrined in the Constitution and it must be enshrined in law.
Under his proposal the prison system would be removed from the National Security Ministry and put under the Ministry of Justice. He said the new ministry could intervene to deal with the country's crime problem.
He also slammed critics of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) who are opposed to having the Trinidad-based court become the final court of appeal, replacing the London-based Privy Council.
Opposition leader Basdeo Panday has called for a referendum on the matter and has suggested that there court be bias in the CCJ, citing comments attributed to one of the judges of the court.
Read the story: Panday demands referendum
Manning also spoke about reforms to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), noting that the proposal is for the DPP to have exclusive jurisdiction in three areas:
- Where official secrets of the State are involved
- Where the crime of terrorism is involved
- In matters involving State to State relations
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