Caribbean & Central America - August 2014 (ISSN 1741-4458)

***GRENADIAN VOTE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. On 15 July, Deputy Prime Minister Elvin Nimrod announced that the country will vote in a referendum on twelve proposed changes to the constitution on 10 February 2015. The announcement came after weeks of consultation and the submission of a report to the cabinet by the Constitution Reform Advisory Committee headed by former attorney general, Francis Alexis. One of the points for consideration is the proposed use of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Grenada’s final court of appeal. Nimrod cited Grenada’s status as an “independent” and “sovereign” nation as reason to use its “own court instead of going to Privy Council in England”. Other proposals include changing the country’s official name from the “State of Grenada” to “Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique”, and changing the oath taken by government officials when taking office from “allegiance to the Queen of England” to “allegiance to Grenada”. A two-thirds majority of votes in the referendum and a two-thirds majority of the 16-member House of Representatives are required to change the constitution.

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