Half a loaf better than none: AG on CCJ matter

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said Friday he hopes that the opposition would support the government's measure for the change from the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

He said it would be a "very, very sad day" if the Opposition doesn't support a "50 per cent" measure to accept the CCJ as the final court of appeal for criminal matters.

Ramlogan was one of the members of the government delegation that met Friday with Keith Rowley and members of an opposition team to discuss the proposal.

The opposition pledged to support the bill under certain conditions. It is advocating a complete break from the Privy Council, not the partial change as suggested by the government. It believes that the gradual move is not workable and could result in legal challenges.

Ramlogan told reporters half a loaf is better than none.

"It would be rather ironic if a hungry man says I am not eating the half loaf because I wanted the full loaf and I prefer to starve," Ramlogan said.

He noted that the Prime Minister's announcement of the CCJ proposal last week "was greeted with much happiness and welcomed by the Leader of the Opposition without any reservation".

He added, "I have not heard anyone say that look you should go the full distance. You should in fact buy the whole loaf but in so much as I am hungry I am not going to eat if you give me half loaf. Nobody's said that," Ramlogan said in reference to the Opposition.

He conceded that "some have expressed the view, yes, that maybe you could have gone the full monty and taken it to the full finish line". However he say there is enough general support for the Government based on the positive reactions it has received to the CCJ measure.

The former UNC administration under Basdeo Panday had rejected the idea of dropping the Privy Council in favour of the CCJ.

Ramlogan did not wish to comment on the position taken by a previous administration, preferring to stick with the present. "The position of this Persad-Bissessar administration is that we support the CCJ," Ramlogan said.

He also said there is no Constitutional provision for a referendum. Both government and opposition agreed on that.