Guest column: Identity challenges of the next 50 years - by Dr Hamid Ghany

As we prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our independence, we still have to decide what we consider to be indigenous as ours, or what we consider to be imported. Trinidad and Tobago led the way in becoming a republic in 1976 after Guyana had made that move in 1970. Dominica adopted republicanism in 1978. All of the other independent countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean retained Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen after they became independent.

The University of the West Indies and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are the only two remaining institutions in the region that were firmly planted in our colonial past and have made the transition into our post-independence society. One of the last bastions of true West Indian regionalism, the University of the West Indies (UWI), was incorporated by Letters Patent made on August 25, 1972, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and counter-signed by Sir Denis William Dobson, QC, KCB, OBE, permanent secretary to the Lord Chancellor’s Department and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. This was the third Royal Charter of the University of the West Indies and represents the source of its governance and its degree granting authority.

According to Section 6 of these Letters Patent:
“We, Our Heirs and Successors, shall be and remain the Visitor and Visitors of the University and in the exercise of the Visitorial Authority from time to time and in such manner as We or They shall think fit may inspect the University, its buildings, laboratories and general work, equipment, and also the examination, teaching and other activities of the University by such person or persons as may be appointed in that behalf.”

As the institution that has produced so many graduates who have embraced an anti-colonial attitude, the UWI is itself one of the last institutions of the post-colonial connection in the region. However, the UWI has to prepare itself for the statutory changes being contemplated by the British Government for the Monarchy in relation to the powers of Her Majesty as the Visitor and the exercise of her visitorial authority in relation to the UWI.

When Queen Elizabeth II exercised her powers to establish the Third Royal Charter by Letters Patent on August 25, 1972, she did so acting on the advice of Her Privy Council at the request of the UWI. The citation used in the Royal Charter is the one used when she acts in her capacity as Queen of the United Kingdom. That citation reads in part as follows: “Elizabeth the Second by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith...”

At the time when the Third Royal Charter was made, there were no republics. Since that time, among the contributing territories of the UWI, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica have become republics so that her “other Realms and Territories” of which she is Queen are no longer relevant to them and perhaps now the only connection is as “Head of the Commonwealth.”

This may have implications for the exercise of the visitorial powers of Her Majesty in relation to Trinidad and Tobago and to Dominica as the presidents of those countries are not on the same constitutional footing as the other contributing territories who all have a constitutional connection to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Will the British Government consult the UWI about its proposed policy changes involving the monarchy given the connection between the monarchy and the UWI?

The issue of the retention of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to the exclusion of the Caribbean Court of Justice raises similar issues, except that some of the very judges of the CCJ pride themselves on their knighthoods and membership of Her Majesty’s Privy Council while imploring countries like Trinidad and Tobago to complete the cycle of their independence by joining the CCJ.

The recent announcement by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago of its political intent to adopt the CCJ as its final court of appeal for criminal matters represents a move in the direction of completing the adoption of an indigenous institution. As a republic, that does not constitute a major challenge.

The deeper regional issue is that the knighthood has become the gold standard of Caribbean honour in those countries that are not republics. The anti-colonial movement examines issues like membership of the CCJ, but it never goes deeper to examine the West Indian psyche to understand the contradiction between asserting West Indian nationhood and termination of the colonial past alongside its reverence for, and sustenance of, British honours and royalty.

The psychological contradiction exists where people who have knighthoods and/or are members of Her Majesty’s Privy Council are the loudest in calling upon regional governments to join the CCJ and terminate their connection to Her Majesty’s Privy Council. That is the regional identity challenge to be addressed over the next 50 years.

The column above was reproduced from the SUNDAY GUARDIAN with the permission of the author