Please publish this open letter to the Rev Devon Dick.

Dear Rev Dick:

Your piece, 'Patrick Robinson and the Caribbean Court' published in The Gleaner, November 20, has an unfortunate inconsistency in it.

You speak justifiably proudly of Patrick Robinsons' elevation to the presidency of the International Criminal Tribunal and then proceed to mention other persons, along with Judge Robinson, who you think are suitable to sit on a Caribbean Court.

What perhaps you do not know is that Judge Robinson was driven to take up his original seat as a member of the International Court because he was unable to get an appointment to Jamaica's Court of Appeal, despite having indicated his interest to do so for years.

Observations about J'cans

How you jump from your observations about Jamaicans' suitability for high judicial offices in the Caribbean, to the racial issue in the United States, escapes my understanding except that some-how you try to link it to the choice between the (not stated) white Privy Council and the (not stated) black Caribbean Court.

You also manage to mix, into all this, the national pride for our athletes Bolt, etc plus a little mix of the Irish, through Digicel.

What you have lost sight of, completely, however, is that many of us opposed the way in which the Caribbean Court of Appeal was being set up, since it compromised the essential independence that a Superior Court must have. We feared the danger of having the murky hands of the political directorate able to affect the integrity of the Court.

Steadfast commitment

That is the important point that ought to be linked to Patrick Robinsons' elevation because I have no doubt that it was because he is such an independent mind, with a steadfast commitment to principle, that made it difficult for him to secure an appointment to the Jamaican Court of Appeal.

That deprived the region of his excellence, an excellence that some only feel comfortable in cele-brating, provided that he is as far away from the region as possible, so as not to exercise it in defence of our rights.

I am, etc.,

RICHARD SMALL

Note: This letter, first published on Wednesday November 26, 2008, is republished, as we had inadvertently included in it a comment, which was not meant for publication. The Gleaner Company apologises to Mr Small for any inconvenience the original publication may have caused.