Category: CANA News

The Antigua and Barbuda Falcons defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors by 65 runs in the 30th match of the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League at Providence Stadium here on Tuesday.

Scores

ANTIGUA and BARBUDA FALCONS 182-5 in 20 overs (Hasan Nawaz 36, Shadab Khan 30 not out, Amir Jangoo 27, Karima Gore 23, Evin Lewis 22, Moeen Ali 18, Fabian Allen 11 not out).

GUYANA AMAZON WARRIORS 117 in 14.2 overs (Mavendra Dindyal 25, Mohammad Nabi 23, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 18, Quentin Sampson 12; Alzarri Joseph 4-41, Joshua James 2-11, Sufyan Moqim 2-18, Shadab Khan 2-19).

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the victory of Ashma McDougall in the Roseau North by election on Monday should put to an end the debate in Dominica as to whether or not the country is on the right or the wrong track for its development under the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP).

Preliminary results showed that McDougall, a business executive had easily trumped Daniel ‘Danny’ Lugay of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), who had been a parliamentary representative for the constituency on two previous occasions. She polled 1,506 votes as compared with 983 for Lugay

A third candidate Sherman Boston, who contested the seat as an independent, failed to make any meaningful impact polling just 50 votes.

The Dominica Electoral Office said that 7,489 persons had been registered to vote with 2,595 voters exercising their rights to cast ballots.

The by-election arose after former labour, public service reform, social partnership, entrepreneurship and small business development minister, Miriam Blanchard, resigned on June 12 due to ill-health.

Skerrit, who has led the DLP since February 2004, one month after being sworn in at the age of 31, as the youngest head of government in the world at the time, said that the by-election results represented a vote of confidence in his government

‘I believe that Roseau North has spoken for the whole country. Roseau North has spoken for every part of the country and I believe that the rest of the country has heard you and seen you,’ he told party supporters.

‘And so I believe that the debate in Dominica is over on whether the country is on the right track or the wrong track. And I think Dominica is on the right track based on what you have said in Roseau North,’ Skerrit said.

Skerrit said he was pleased that the DLP had been able to receive the support of the young voters in the constituency, saying ‘you know me, I believe in representation.

‘I will ensure that as the political leader of the Dominican Labour Party, that we will ensure that you get the representation that you have voted for, because you have longed for this for so long.

‘Because in Roseau North there are hard-working people, industrious people and what they need is someone to guide them through this process. I want to say to the senior citizens of Roseau North, thank you so much. I want to say to the middle-aged voters …thank you so much.

‘I want to say in particular to the young people, because it is really the young people who brought this victory home for the Dominican Labour Party. The young men, the young women…I believe we got more than 90 per cent of the young votes in Roseau North, and that is very important,’ said Skerrit, indicating that McDougall would be included in the Cabinet.

In the last general election held on December 6, 2022, the DLP won 19 out of 21 constituency seats, with independent candidates holding the remaining after both the UWP and the other opposition party, the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) boycotted the polls over calls for electoral reform.

The Grenada Parliament was told on Tuesday that the Dickon Mitchell government was right when it terminated several agreements including a production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Russian-backed Global Petroleum Group (GPG) earlier this year after the company had failed to meet several of the targets that had been agreed upon.

Chairman of the Hydrocarbons Technical Working Group (HTWG), Nazim Burke, a former finance minister, said that the government had also decided to terminate the reservation agreement.

‘By letter dated June 2, 2026 GPG responded to the notice of intention to terminate with their position being that they are not in breach of the agreements. By letter dated June 10 the government stated that it would consider GPG’s representations and invited GPG to meet on June 17 to provide GPG with another opportunity to be heard.

‘Additionally the government invited GPG to email the Attorney General … by June 15 any and all other documents GPG believes supported its position and that GPG intended to refer to in the meeting that was arranged then for the 15th’.

But Burke told a joint sitting of Parliament that by email dated June 12, 2026 ‘ GPG stated that it would email copies of these documents that it intended to rely on and was going to refer to in the meeting.

‘They said they will do so by June the 15th. The fact is no such documents were ever sent, no explanation was ever provided and the meeting on June the 15th proceeded without them providing any documents at all.’

Burke said that as required under the Grenada Petroleum and Natural Gas Deposits Act, the government thoroughly considered GPG’s position and each and every representation it made in its letter of June 2 nd and at the meeting.

He said that the government had also considered the lack of evidential support for many of the central representations made by GPG in its June 2nd letter and at the meeting and noted in particular that GPG had not taken any action to remove any of the ground determination as stated in the notice nor has GPG made any offer of adequate compensation in respect thereof.

Burke said further that GPG ‘had done nothing to correct any of the actions or to even give an assurance that these problems or difficulties will not occur again’.

‘By letter dated July 27th 2026 the government terminated the Development Production Sharing Agreement and cancelled the development licence effective July 31st 2028’.

Burke said that as required by the Grenada Petroleum and Natural Deposits Act termination of the Development Production Sharing Agreement the Block Reservation Agreement and the cancellation of the Development Licence were published in the official Gazette on July 31st.

Burk said that the government had adopted an approach that gave GPG ‘every opportunity’ to work with Grenada despite the many breaches to the agreement ‘as government considered termination of these agreements should be a last resort.

‘In the circumstances the government considers that termination of the agreement with GPG was a prudent and appropriate course of action. The Development Production Sharing Agreement provides that if GPG is aggrieved by termination of the Development Licence and the Development Production Sharing Agreement they may initiate arbitration proceedings pursuant to the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce’.

Burke said that the government is prepared to defend its actions ‘if such proceedings are initiated,’ noting that in anticipation of such proceedings ‘the decision has been made to preserve the status quo as we currently have no intention to seek proposals from any oil operator in respect of those four blocks nor does the government intend to allow GPG to do anything on those four blocks or in relation to those four blocks.

‘We have reviewed this matter very carefully and very closely with the International Council and we are prepared to defend the interests of Grenada against any claims that may be brought by the GPG,’ Burke said.

Prior to delivering his 35 minute report to the joint sitting of Parliament, the leader of the Democratic People’s Movement (DPM), Peter David questioned the decision to allow ‘a body extant and outside of the House of Representatives ‘ to address legislators.

But the Speaker, Leo Cato, said that he was guided by the relevant authorities ‘given the fact that where Standing Orders remain silent then the practice is to look at what happens in Erskine and May.

‘So we are will in order for this particular meeting and we consulted with the government on the preentation of the report today and we were told it is a highly technical report and that it is best presented by the experts,’ Cato said.

The main opposition New National Party (NNP) legislators had announced since Monday that its members would be boycotting the sitting under the current arrangements.

‘We understand also that several individuals with great knowledge and experience in parliamentary procedures have also advised the government and the Parliament accordingly. ‘We have absolutely no problem with the government updating Parliament on oil and gas exploration, but this matter must not be handled through a process that misuses Parliament and departs from proper parliamentary procedures and practises,’ NNP and Opposition Leader,, Emmalin Pierre, told reporters.

The HTWG through its lead technocrat, Dr. Gibert Yevi, an internationally recognised petroleum energy, presented an update on its activities. The objectives of the group which includes experts from Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Scotland, Australia and Spain, are to fully assess Grenada’s hydrocarbon potential and, if found to be commercially viable, devise a strategy and action plan to explore, develop and monetize such findings for the benefit of the country.

The technical group will also be required to develop a communication strategy to engage stakeholders, including communities, civil society organizations, and the private sector as well as outline recommendations for potential partners and investors, including a plan to attract and retain them.

Burke speaking after the HTWG presentation said that because of the nature of the oil and gas industry, there is significant upfront capital investments that is required and that due to the highly specialised technical nature of the work, ‘Grenada needs to partner with credible, financially capable, and technically proficient oil and gas companies to develop a viable hydrocarbon industry’.

He said that work has already being done in engaging with companies such as Total and Shell and BP and Exxon, acknowledging that GPG ‘has had a presence here in Grenada long before the technical working group came into existence.

‘That said, the mandate of the technical working group necessarily involves analysing the GPG in the same manner and by the same criteria that Grenada is doing for any potential oil and gas company wishing to operate in Grenada.

‘That is to say, we have a responsibility to ensure that the GPG is credible, financially capable, and technically proficient,’ he said, noting that fulfilment of that responsibility necessarily involves an analysis of the contractual arrangements that had been entered into between Grenada and the GPG as well as GPG’s performance under those arrangements and under Grenada’s laws.

‘An analysis of these arrangements between GPG and Grenada can go as far back as 2003 when Grenada was involved in arbitration proceedings with Jack Reinburg of the RSM Production Corporation,’ he said.

In 2008, the government provided GPG with a licence over 11 offshore blocks to explore for oil and gas and five years later, the company was granted a development licence and signed a production sharing agreement.

Burke said that an exploration licence is given to a company, which goes out, drill a well and do exploration.

‘Based on what they see, they do an appraisal. If there’s a commercial find, the company must then put together a development plan of how it’s going to develop the hydrocarbon. It brings the development plan to the government.

‘The government appraises it or assesses the plan for its efficiency, for its quality, and then the government issues a development licence, giving the developer the opportunity to develop the field and enter into commercial production along the way.

‘So you cannot really have a development plan if you haven’t yet even dug a well because the plan really is to operationalise the discovery. In this particular instance, this did not occur with GPG.’

Burke said that on December 9, 2013, a development licence and a development production sharing agreement were granted by Grenada to the GPG over four of the previous 11 offshore blocks that they had held’.

Burke said that at that stage there had been ‘no drilling and no commercial discovery of any kind of oil and gas in Grenada’s waters,’ detailing the problems the HTWG and the government encountered with GPG before deciding to terminate the agreements.

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell Tuesday expressed his disappointment at the decision of opposition legislators to boycott the joint sitting of Parliament convened to have received a report from the Hydrocarbons Technical Working Group (HTWG).

‘…yes it is extremely disappointing and sad that members have chosen to boycott such an important session to provide them good information about what we have done,’ Mitchell said. On Monday, Opposition Leader and head of the main opposition New National Party (NNP), Emmalin Pierre, told reporters that the NNP wanted to ‘make it abundantly clear that its members who are representing us in the Houses of Parliament … have serious concerns about the special joint sitting of Parliament’ and that they would not attend the ‘sitting under the current arrangements.

‘We understand also that several individuals with great knowledge and experience in parliamentary procedures have also advised the government and the Parliament accordingly. ‘We have absolutely no problem with the government updating Parliament on oil and gas exploration, but this matter must not be handled through a process that misuses Parliament and departs from proper parliamentary procedures and practises,’ Pierre told reporters.

The NNP said it has no objection to the government updating Parliament on oil and gas exploration, but strongly objected to inviting the HTWG to present directly to Parliament instead of first formally laying its report before the House.

Former foreign affairs minister Peter David, who was present in the Parliament on Tuesday, reiterated his opposition to the move by the government reiterating that the HTWG ‘is neither a Joint Select Committee of the Houses nor an appointed committee by the Houses’.

‘It is therefore irregular to invite such a committee to address the House of Representatives,’ he said, even as the Speaker Leo Cato told legislators that there was nothing wrong with the procedures being adopted in getting the members of the HTWG to present the report.

.’So we are will in order for this particular meeting and we consulted with the government on the preentation of the report today and we were told it is a highly technical report and that it is best presented by the experts,’ Cato said.

Prime Minister Mitchell told legislators that he wished to go on record as expressing ‘our appreciation’ to the HTWG members for presenting and ensuring that the presentation was done in a manner that the layman could understand.

He said the presentation by the lead technocrat, Dr. Gibert Yevi, an internationally recognised petroleum energy, will be made available to the House and will be laid in Parliament formally by him as the line Minister.

‘I hope my colleagues appreciate why we requested for the committee to present in person rather than for me as the line minister to present because as Dr. Yemi indicated the oil and gas industry as a commercial business industry is highly technical, highly commercial in nature and requires people with the expertise to lead it’.

Mitchell said that while obviously from a policy point of view and from a leadership point of view, the policy makers and the parliamentarians ultimately are responsible to demonstrate ‘our responsibility requires us to accept where our expertise begins and ends and where we need to rely on others to do so’.

Mitchell said that he is hoping that David, the lone opposition member present ‘would appreciate that substance matters over form and that the presentation ought to have been done by the experts who did it today so that they could be questioned and provide the right answer rather than me.

‘So I hope going forward since we seem to stand more on form and on substance that more of this will happen and that the Parliament will become alive with real substantive issues of national importance rather than that of form.’

Mitchell said that Grenada’s oil and gas industry has been shrouded in mystery, in opaqueness, in secrecy and in an obvious lack of documentation, noting that ‘so when a well has been drilled and Grenada doesn’t have the data on the well, what does that tell you?

‘So if I wanted to be partisan, if I wanted to politicise this issue, I would not ask for a joint sitting of the House. I would not ask the experts to come and subject themselves to our questioning and our scrutiny. We would not make the reports available.

‘We would not go to the lengths that we have done to have meetings not just with the technical working group but with the experts so that the members of the public can be told what we have done, what we need to do and where we need to go on this issue.’

The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), says just over half a million voters have been registered across the country as preparations continue for the elections to be held in December this year.

The first round of long-awaited presidential and legislative elections, alongside a constitutional referendum are scheduled for December 13, marking the first time Haitians will be casting ballots since 2016 when President Jovenel Moise was elected. Moise was later assassinated on July 7,2021.

The preliminary results are expected to be published December 19, with final results for the first round scheduled for January 9, 2027. A second round of presidential and legislative elections, along with local elections, is scheduled for February 21, 2027 with final results for the second round of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for March 7, with final local election results expected March 12.

The CEP said that as of September 6, this year, 506,953 persons had been registered since the registration process began on July 20, 2026. The figure represents 12.6 per cent of the CEP’s target of registering four million voters by the October 13, deadline.

The CEP said that 2,761 operators are currently active in the field and that the logistical infrastructure consists of 1,418 registration centers, of which 1,271 are directly operational.

Registration progress has fluctuated considerably from week to week. After a very slow start at the end of July with only a few hundred applications per day, a first increase appeared at the beginning of August, reaching around 15,000 to 20,000 applications per day.

The influx peaked during the second half of August, registering a maximum of 24,775 applications on August 17, followed by a second surge to 23,783 applications on August 25. But the pace has gradually slowed at the start of this month falling below 3,000 applications per day by September 6.

There are 257,447 registered men compared to 248,769 registered women. The authorities say that the most represented group is the 39-48 age group with 114,177 registered voters, closely followed by the 29-38 age group with 110,028 registered voters.

Young people aged 18-28 represent 79,811 registered voters, while participation gradually decreases among older age groups, from 90,932 for the 49-58 age group to 44,034 for those 69 and over.

Official figures also show that as of September 3rd, 2026, only 21 out of 105 approved political organizations have met the requirement of 30,000 endorsements. The final deadline for verification and validation of these lists is October 14, 2026.

But wth less than four months before the first ballot is cast, Jerry Tardieu, the former deputy for Pétion-Ville, has in an open letter addressed to CEP president, Jacques Desrosiers, is seeking details on the modalities planned to allow Haitians living abroad to participate in the next elections.

Tardieu has included in his list of questions, which categories of Haitians living abroad will be able to vote, what will be the conditions and procedures for registration on the electoral lists, what identification documents will be required and in which countries or cities the polling stations will be installed.

The four members of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the July 18 maritime collision at Anse Cochon, Anse La Raye, west of here that claimed the lives of four people and injuries to 14 others, have been been sworn into office.

The retired acting Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Mario Michel, will chair the Commission that also includes maritime consultant Cuthbert Didier, retired superintendent of Police, Kentry Frederick, and Assistant Commissioner of Police Luke De Freitas.

The Commission is mandated to conduct a ‘full, fair and impartial inquiry’ into the circumstances surrounding the collision involving the two St. Lucia registered boats, the Ocean Angel and the Cazorla Jr..

‘I don’t think we’ll underestimate the severity of the responsibility, and the significance of it. But, we will certainly endeavour to the best of our collective abilities, live up to the confidence that you have reposed in us,’ Justice Michel said as he acknowledged the significance of the Commission’s mandate.

Acting Governor General Finisterre said he is confident ‘we’ll get some good recommendations in terms of what really happened’ thanking the Commissioners for undertaking the assignment.

In addition to determining the circumstances surrounding the July 18 collision, the Commission is required to review St. Lucia’s legislative framework governing maritime accidents, including relevant provisions of the Civil Code, Shipping Act, Police Act, Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority Act, Customs (Control and Management) Act and Carriage of Goods by Sea Act.

The Commission will also review standard operating procedures and protocols governing maritime activity, maritime safety and maritime investigations, and make recommendations to inform the drafting of a modern Maritime Act.

Justice Michel said the Commission would seek to use the inquiry to make recommendations that could help prevent similar tragedies in the future.

The inquiry will operate from September 8, this year to March 8, 2027, with the proceedings to be held in public, subject to the Commission’s authority to exclude persons where necessary for the preservation of order, the proper conduct of proceedings or other stated reasons.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has dismissed criticisms by five regional associations of women judges, which last week had expressed grave

concern over comments he made last month regarding what he described as lenient sentences for serious criminal offences.

The associations – the Caribbean Association of Women Judges, Commonwealth of The Bahamas Association of Women Judges, Eastern Caribbean Association of Women Judges, the Guyana Association of Women Judges and the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Women Judges -had defended judicial independence and the rule of law.

In their statement, the organisations said they considered it necessary to collectively defend principles they described as foundational to constitutional democracy throughout the Caribbean.

The associations said that objected to Prime Minister Browne’s reported suggestion that a judge, who sits on the bench here and who fails to impose sufficiently severe sentences should leave the country or face deportation and designation as persona non grata.

‘On the independence of the Judiciary, there can be no ambiguity. An independent Judiciary is not an obstacle to public safety. It is one of the guarantees of a free, safe and democratic society,’ the judges said.

But in a statement osted on his Facebook page, an unrepentant Browne said that the courts should give proportional sentences ‘instead of your inadequate, weak-kneed sentences that have resulted in an unmanageable increase in the repeat offenders population’.

He said that these repeat offenders are destabilising Caribbean communities; terrorising citizens and undermining development.

‘Your singular concern about your judicial independence is misguided. Your ‘independence’ doesn’t put you beyond reproach and make you unaccountable to the people you serve.

‘Your so-called ‘independence does not give you the right to abuse your sentencing discretion in favour of criminals who commit heinous crimes. It does not give you the right to act contrary to the wishes of the parliament to see more stringent sentencing,’ Browne wrote.

He said that the judges have an ‘obligation to move in lockstep with the other branches of government to fight crime and violence by issuing proportional sentencing.

‘Your weak sentencing is undermining public safety; that is the salient issue at hand, that you, members of the judiciary have conveniently failed to address. Instead, you continue to treat the people you serve with a contemptuous silence, only to respond when you think your ‘independence’ is challenged. ‘

Prime MInister Browne said that the judiciary is fully aware that he is not seeking to influence any individual case.

‘What I am challenging is a broken judicial system that needs urgent realignment to become relevant in addressing the prevailing challenges of crime and violence involving repeat offenders.

‘I respect the separation of powers. However where your weak sentencing is trespassing on the domain of the parliament and by extension the people’s desire to see more proportional sentencing of repeat offenders involved in heinous sex and firearms crimes – I have every right to ‘blaze’ members of the judiciary. ‘

Prime Minister Browne said he believes that ‘several of you are women (and) how would you feel if your young five year old daughter was raped and contracted herpes from a 50 year criminal and the judge gave a three year sentence for a guilty plea ?

‘How would you feel if someone committed aggravated robbery against any of you with a fire arm – and is given 18 months in jail – to return to society to commit similar crimes ? How do you feel about repeat offenders involved in narco trafficking committing multiple offenses including drugs and firearms, only to serve 1.5 – 2 years repeatedly ? They need longer sentences to disrupt the sustainability of their ongoing narco business. ‘

He said that the judges ‘moronic condemnation of the Rasta Dreadman (Gassy Dread)’which he uses as a singer ‘is of no consequence.

‘Until such time, as you address public concerns about your perverse sentencing against hardened criminals – you will continue to hear from me on behalf of the people.

‘As far as I am concerned, it’s inappropriate for the judiciary to be moving in the opposite direction of the parliament, with their liberal, lenient sentencing. This is the issue that your members stubbornly refuse to address.

‘And to the corrupt ones among you – take my threat seriously. You cross the line and credible evidence emerges about your acts of unintegrity – appropriate action will be taken against them,’ Browne said, adding that he is speaking on behalf of the people without fear or favour.

‘ I said what I said and I stand by it. My advice: climb down from your secured ivory towers, show some empathy for the victims of these heinous crimes by ensuring justice is served on the criminals, without fail.’

Browne said that the judges ‘need to end your conceit and deceit by accepting that our justice system is broken; realign in accordance with the wishes of the people you serve.

‘The safety of our respective countries and our peoples is paramount and takes priority over your so-called ‘independence,’ he wrote.

Three people were injured in separate shootings near Monday’s West Indian American Day Carnival Parade in Brooklyn, marring an otherwise vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture.

The New York Police Department said a man was shot on St. John’s Place in Crown Heights less than two hours before the parade ended. A suspect was arrested.

A woman and a 19-year-old man were also shot near Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue. The suspects fled, but police said all three victims were expected to survive.

Earlier, five people were stabbed near the parade route.

The violence occurred despite heightened security as tens of thousands of masqueraders and revelers gathered along Eastern Parkway for the 59th annual parade, regarded as North America’s largest Caribbean carnival procession.

Masqueraders in colorful costumes danced to soca, calypso, zouk and other Caribbean music along the 3½-mile route from Buffalo Avenue to Grand Army Plaza.

The parade featured more than 20 adult bands, including Sesame Flyers Carnival, Branches Mas, I Am Caribbeing, Rendezvous Mas, Suga Candy Mas and D’Midas International NYC.

Grand marshals included labor leader Shaun Francois, Trinidadian-born health executive Julian John, Grenadian-born publisher Herman Hall, Sesame Flyers International and former steel orchestra owner Clyde Durant. Reggae singer Buju Banton and Kes the Band frontman Kees Dieffenthaller were honorary grand marshals.

The parade culminated a week of activities organized by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, including concerts, Junior Carnival, Panorama and a brunch fete.

This year’s celebration was held under the theme: ‘New York Carnival 2026: M.A.S. – Music. Action. Soul.’

The parade was preceded by Caribbean J’Ouvert, organized by J’Ouvert City International.

A 23-year-old Venezuelan woman will return to court on October 5 this year after she was granted TT$60,000 (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) on a charge of cruelty to a child and one count of wasteful employment.

The woman appeared before Master Kateisha Ambrose-Persadsingh in the Siparia Court south of here on Monday on the charges following an incident which occurred on August 20, 2026, when she told police that she had found a baby abandoned along the roadway.

She said she heard a baby crying, and saw the newborn inside a plastic bag in the box, with the umbilical cord still attached.

But the police said that based on enquiries conducted, intelligence gathered and information received, she was detained on September 3 and three days later, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said that Deyanira de los Angeles Gomez be charged with one count of cruelty to a child and one count of wasteful employment.

When she appeared in court on Monday, the Venezuelan national was not represented.

Jamaica has officially filed an historic reparations petition to Britain’s King Charles with Kingston indicating that it anticipates that the petition will be referred to the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest and final court.

‘…we will await the decision,’ said Jamaica’s Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister, Olivia Grange, after confirming that the petition had been filed with King Charles.

Grange said it was her ‘duty not only as a proud woman of African descent, but as a member of the human race to pursue reparations for the hundreds of years of chattel enslavement of African people on plantations in Jamaica.

‘How can we not be moved to action about what is declared to be the gravest crime against humanity that went on for so long and affected so many millions of people?’ asked the Minister as she called for support of Jamaica’s petition.

The petition asks the King, in his capacity of Head of State of Jamaica, to refer questions about the legality of chattel slavery to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

‘I wish to say here again that this petition of the government of Jamaica to His Majesty the King does not include a monetary claim,’ said Grange, adding that ‘already there has been a lot of reaction to our petition and I welcome thoughtful, honest debate on the matter of reparations, but so far, we have seen and heard so much of what isn’t so.’

The Minister was reacting to incorrect media reports that the Jamaican government had made a monetary claim in its petition to the King.

‘I wish to make it clear, and will do so at every single opportunity, that this petition is a legal petition. It contains three specific questions… (and) does not include a monetary claim.’

United Kingdom-based lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, who helped to formulate the petition as part of a team of eminent Jamaican and UK lawyers, said ‘the petition simply asks the King to refer certain points of real importance to the Privy Council for their determination.

‘There’s a special jurisdiction under section four of the Judicial Committee Act for the King to refer an issue of legal or constitutional importance to the Privy Council, for their determination…Any matter of legal or constitutional nature can be referred that cannot be determined through the ordinary judicial process. And this is obviously one of those issues,’ Fitzgerald added.

The Jamaican petition asks three specific questions: Whether the seizure, transport and enslavement as chattel of Africans was ever lawful under English law? Was it a breach of international law to seize, transport and enslave Africans in Jamaica? And whether the UK has a legal obligation to provide a reparatory remedy to the people of Jamaica?

Fitzgerald said there’s a most powerful argument that it was never lawful.

‘If you think of it, it’d be a pretty strange thing if a citizen could just go to Africa, see someone, against their will push them into a boat, and take them on a tortuous journey, and that that was lawful under English common law.

‘There was no statute to authorise it. In fact, there was a statute which said it was unlawful to seize people from Africa and the National Council for Reparations highlighted that George II statute. So to those who say, oh, well, it was lawful at the time, we asked the Privy Council to find that it was never lawful at the time,’ he added.

The petition also argues that chattel enslavement was, and is, a crime against humanity.

Regarding the third issue of a remedy, Fitzgerald said: ‘we’ve provided the legal principles to the King and to the Privy Council as to why there must be some remedy.

‘The question of what the exact form the remedy would take would be a matter to be worked out in the litigation. But there must be some remedy for wrongs of this magnitude, which continue to have damaging effects on the descendants of those who were enslaved.’

The National Council for Reparations is a high-level advisory body to the Jamaica government on matters of reparatory justice. The Council, chaired by attorney at law, Laleta Davis Mattis, reports to Grange.