Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com

Cases from Commonwealth countries including Trinidad and Tobago that go before the Privy Council in the United Kingdom will cause a major strain on that country’s new Supreme Court.

This is according to a report in the UK-based Financial Times newspaper published on Monday.

Responding to the report, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday says, however, that the number of cases that go before the Privy Council from Commonwealth member states in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in particular actually show the need for having the archaic UK court continue to serve as their highest court of appeal.

At the heart of the issue for this country, is the Opposition’s position that there is not yet enough confidence in this country in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to have it replace the Privy Council as this nation’s final court of appeal in all criminal and civil matters,

It is for this reason, Panday told the Express in an interview yesterday, the Opposition continues to refuse to support any legislation that would allow the CCJ to become this nation’s final court of appeal in all matters before the courts.

In the report, the president of the new Supreme Court in the UK, Lord Nicholas Phillips said he was searching for ways to curb the “disproportionate” time he and his fellow senior justices spent hearing legal appeals from independent Commonwealth countries to the Privy Council.

“The fact that the judges are pointing out that there are too many cases coming from the Caribbean and so on indicates the need for the Privy Council. It means we are going to the Privy Council in droves because we have no confidence in the final court of appeal in our country,” Panday said.

The Government has expressed its full confidence in the CCJ which is headquartered in Port of Spain to the tune of millions of Trinidad and Tobago taxpayers’ dollars.

At this time, the CCJ is this country’s highest court of appeal in trade matters with regard to the Caricom Single Market but it has final authority in criminal matters (appellate jurisdiction) in only Guyana and Barbados.

In the Financial Times article, Phillips said he was concerned the judges who will staff the Supreme Court from next month would-as during their previous incarnations as House of Lords justices-end up spending as much as 40 per cent of their working hours on Privy Council business.

Phillips was looking to take some of the pressure off the Supreme Court by drafting in Court of Appeal judges to help out, although he added that “in an ideal world” former Commonwealth countries would stop using the Privy Council and set up their own final courts of appeal instead.

Panday said Phillips’s concerns should compel Caricom governments to “create the atmosphere of confidence in the CCJ” and ensure that it would not be prone to any political interference.

BANDITS paid a house owned by Chief Justice Ivor Archie a visit on Thursday night, and left with a water pump valued at $2,000.

The house is located at Mount Hololo Road in St Ann’s and at the time of the break-in, Chief Justice Archie was not there.

Police said while Justice Archie owns the property, he had moved since his appointment as CJ early last year.

Police said the bandits entered the yard of the house around 7.30 p.m. They grabbed the pump and fled, taking nothing else.

St Clair police are continuing investigations.

Nikita Braxton South Bureau

assessing the damage: Fire officers inspect the damage at the scene of the explosion at Petrotrin’s Tank Battery Facility in Barrackpore yesterday. -Photo: DAVE PERSAD

A Petrotrin crude oil storage facility exploded when it was struck by a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm that swept across South Trinidad shortly before noon yesterday.

No one was at the Tank Battery 6 site at Jaipaulsingh Road, Barrackpore, at the time. But the smoke and fire sent residents running from their homes, some to see the fire, others to escape the area.

Villager Nigel Mungal said shortly before the explosion rocked homes, it had begun raining heavily.

Mungal said, “There was loud thunder and then a cloud of black smoke despite pouring rain that flooded the road. Some people decided to go check. But nobody got too close because we were afraid the thing would blow up.”

The lightning strike came within an hour of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management issuing a press statement warning of possible thundershowers, high winds and street and flash flooding.

The tanks store crude oil brought to the surface by two pumping jacks in the area. The crude contains a percentage of highly volatile methane. The facility is a quarter mile from the nearest house.

Petrotrin’s communications manager, Arnold Corneal, said there were no injuries.

Three years ago, lightning damaged a Petrotrin facility in the same area, and Petrotrin’s oil storage tanks at its Point a Pierre Refinery location have also been hit by lightning.

Corneal said the fire was under control by noon and both State and company fire fighters responded to the blaze.

In an unrelated matter, Petrotrin also announced yesterday that it had called in a receiver to handle the assets involved in the now overdue national Gas to Liquids plant project at Pointe-a-Pierre.

This happened after Petrotrin’s partner in the venture, World GTL, allegedly defaulted on a loan payment which was due on September 18.

World GTL is a US-headquartered cross national company which was contracted to work with Petrotrin to construct the first Gas to Liquids hydrocarbon energy facility at Pointe-a-Pierre.

GTL is a colourless, odorless liquid with the same uses as diesel fuel, but is more environmentally friendly as it releases less emissions. It can be used in existing machinery, infrastructure and vehicles without modification.

Yesterday, the administrative staff of World GTL Trinidad Ltd met with the Petrotrin appointed receiver. A release from Petrotrin said the concerns of workers, who had reportedly downed tools due to concerns with the matter, were also addressed and they are expected to report to work on Monday.

Petrotrin representatives have said the receiver, Brian Hackett, of PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd, has now taken control of all assets with the “objective of completing the project”.

Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo. AFP PHOTO

The following is the text of the statement:

The Caribbean Community views, with continuing grave concern, the situation in Honduras arising from the removal by military intervention of the democratically elected Head of State, President Manuel Zelaya.

The Caribbean Community notes the recent return to Honduras of President Zelaya and his presence in the Embassy of Brazil. The Community wishes to underline the critical importance of respecting the inviolability of diplomatic premises and of the persons therein.

The Caribbean Community views the presence of President Zelaya at the Embassy of Brazil in his country as an opportunity for dialogue towards a peaceful resolution to the current situation. The Caribbean Community hopes this opportunity will be seized.

Foreign Ministers will convene the Twelfth informal consultations of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) on Friday 25 September 2009 with a packed agenda of critical issues.

Much attention is expected to be given to the issue of climate change, on which the Region has taken an active role in the negotiations leading up to the December 2009 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Foreign Ministers will also spend some time on issues in relation to the proposals for the reform of the UN Security Council. Much attention will also be given to the area of agriculture and food security particularly in regard to the World Food Summit in Rome from 16-18 November, 2009.

The Region’s preparations for two upcoming hemispheric meetings to be hosted in Jamaica will also be discussed. These meetings are the Ministerial Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development (CALC) and the Twenty Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Rio Group.

On Saturday 26 September 2009 they are joined by the Dominican Republic for a meeting with the United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

‘Me don’t care what they have to say…you a de real driva’…PM Golding gets this assurance from one of his many fans who greeted him at the end of a recent town hall meeting. JIS Photo

“We will be proposing the direction to take the country through this crisis and beyond into a period where we can start to grow and develop again,” Golding explained.

The Prime Minister said that he has been working with a technical team for the last two days and that he will be going to Cabinet the first Monday in October to seek a mandate to pursue the necessary changes.

Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, Golding noted that in order for the country to move ahead, it cannot just deal with the crisis of today and hope that tomorrow will take care of itself. Changes for survival and growth must be made, he emphasised.

Dr Ashni Singh

Finance minister Dr Ashni Singh signed on the government behalf while Marco Nicola the IDB representative here signed for the bank

One of the agreements which will provide support to the LCDS caters for the strengthening of national institutional capacities for effectively dealing with climate change; and supporting a nation-wide consultation process on the LCDS.

The Finance Minister said Guyana has been a global champion for the cause of preserving and protecting rainforests and advocating for the recognition of the contribution that standing forests make in this regard.

“One of the great ironies of our circumstances is that while we face a disproportionate exposure to climate change because of our population concentration on the coast, because of the coast being below sea level, because of our productive economic activity being concentrated on the coast,” Singh stated

He added that while Guyana faces a disproportionate vulnerability to climate change at the same time it is also making a disproportionate contribution to the global fight against climate change. “We have as a government and through very deliberate policies, ensured the protection and preservation of this valuable rainforest asset.”

The IDB Country Representative noted that the Bank seeks to assist its member countries in moving towards low carbon growth paths, supporting policy innovations towards climate change and sustainable energy institutional frameworks, as well as policy reforms in strategic sectors.

“This support is consistent with IDB Strategy for Climate Change, recognizing that the Latin American and Caribbean Region offers significant opportunities for avoided and reduced Green House gas emissions and therefore it can contribute significantly in the world’s effort against global climate change,” Nicola stated.

He added that the agreement is aimed at strengthening national institutional capacity for effectively dealing with climate change and supporting the nationwide consultation that are already ongoing on the LCDS targeting the stakeholders and economic actors across the sector, but in particular the indigenous and forest communities that depend on the country’s forest and natural resources.

The agreement represents the first technical cooperation agreement and second effort of the bank to support and provide technical advice to the Low Carbon Development Strategy.

The second Technical Cooperation Agreement supports Guyana’s efforts to improve disaster risk and flood management and is consistent with the agreed upon country strategy with Guyana (2008-2012), given its focus on disaster risk management and climate change to promote competitiveness.

The grant will fund the identification of country risk indicators and flood risk evaluation; the development of a National Integrated Disaster Risk Management plan and institutional strengthening and capacity building at national and local levels; it will also fund the design of an investment programme in flood prevention and mitigation, taking into consideration the Bank’s existing lending instruments, as well as potential co-financing from other donors.

Additionally, in order to ensure an integrated approach to disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and environmental management, during project execution a steering committee on environment, climate change and disaster risk management will be created under the Office of the President. This group will comprise public sector agencies and donor and non-governmental organizations.