CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson has rejected allegations that panels of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) were constituted or altered to secure predetermined outcomes, calling the claims unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the Court’s established practices.
Anderson said in a statement addressing recent press reports on the Court’s internal affairs that the panel-fixing allegations centred on the composition of the panel in D’Almada v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago. He said the change stemmed solely from a dispute over judicial attire and had nothing to do with the merits or anticipated outcome of the case, describing the leap from an attire issue to an allegation of panel fixing as irresponsible and intellectually dishonest.
Going forward, Anderson said every judge would be required to sit on every panel unless excused for legitimate reason.
Turning to suggestions that he had sought to influence the outcome of cases, Anderson said the allegations were entirely unfounded. Referring to Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed v Minister of Home Affairs, he said judicial conferences frequently involved candid exchanges and differing legal analyses, which he described as normal and healthy within a collegiate appellate court. He noted the judgment reflected complete unanimity among all seven judges, adding that no judge would allow himself to be unduly influenced by another, including the President, and that the Court does not publish dissenting judgments in its Original Jurisdiction.
On Guyana, Anderson addressed his meetings with the President and Leader of the Opposition regarding the prolonged acting appointments of the Chancellor and Chief Justice, offices that have lacked substantive holders for more than two decades. He said his concern was rooted solely in constitutional principle, citing Article 122A and the framers’ intent that the judiciary be headed by substantively appointed officers enjoying full security of tenure. He noted that predecessors Sir Dennis Byron and Justice Adrian Saunders had previously raised similar concerns.
Anderson said he held no personal interest in who was appointed to the posts. He added that during official and private visits to Guyana, including discussions with the President and Opposition Leader in October 2025, he had sought to encourage progress toward resolving the impasse, though the discussions did not produce the outcome he had hoped for. Reflecting on the matter, he said it may have been better, in hindsight, to confine himself to public commentary, as his predecessors had done.
