Panday questions government's motive in moving away from Privy Council

Former PM Basdeo Panday

Former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday has suggested that the motive for the government's decision to drop the Privy Council in favour of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Trinidad & Tobago's final court of appeal for criminal matters is to allow the state to resume hangings.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced in Parliament Wednesday that the government has started the process of moving away from the Privy Council to the Trinidad-based CCJ. The announcement has been welcomed by jurists and politicians.

The CCJ was launched in 1999 while Panday was prime minister and finally inaugurated in 2005 during the Manning PNM administration. However neither Panday nor Manning made the change that the current government is proposing.

Read the story: T&T begins process to make CCJ final court of appeal in criminal matters

Panday is wondering why the change is only for criminal cases while the Privy Council will still have final jurisdiction in civil matters.

"The fact that this Government has decided that it will abolish the criminal jurisdiction in the Privy Council and not the civil jurisdiction is puzzling. You either have confidence in the Court or you don't. It seems to me that they want to reintroduce hanging and this is what this is all about," Panday told local media on Thursday.

He added, "As you know, in the United States there are categories of murders, not all murders are the same. But in Trinidad, all murders are subject to the death penalty and that is something I think that ought to concern the people."

Panday suggested that citizens should make the final determination about the court.

"Do the people of the Trinidad and Tobago have enough confidence in the CCJ to have the Privy Council abolished? I think that is the issue. 

"I think there should be a referendum. The people should decide whether they want to abolish the Privy Council. First of all, abolish it or retain it. And if they want to retain the Privy Council, then you retain it for both, and if they want to abolish it, abolish it for both."