Legal scholar and former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Speaker Jomo Sanga Thomas has issued a compelling call for Caribbean nations to confront their colonial legacy through transformative legal and educational reforms. Drawing inspiration from Charles Houston’s vision of lawyers as social engineers rather than parasites, Thomas argues that the region must actively dismantle persistent colonial structures that continue to shape society 46 years after nominal independence.
The analysis identifies multiple areas where colonial influence remains entrenched, beginning with historical amnesia regarding the 1795 genocide and exile of indigenous populations following Chief Joseph Chatoyer’s assassination. Thomas emphasizes that thousands perished at Balliceaux while survivors established Garifuna communities across Central America and the United States—a history largely absent from mainstream education.
Proposed reforms include mandating comprehensive historical education focusing on Caribbean heroes like Chatoyer, Duvalier, Sheriff Lewis, and Ebenezer Theodore Joshua rather than European figures. The author advocates using legal mechanisms to rename geographic locations currently bearing colonial titles, suggesting redesignating Kingstown’s main thoroughfare as ‘Chatoyer Drive’ as symbolic reclamation.
Thomas particularly condemns the retention of the British Privy Council as the final appellate court for many Caribbean nations, describing it as ‘an affront to sovereignty.’ Despite the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)—established with US$100 million investment by regional governments—only Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, and St. Lucia currently accept its appellate jurisdiction. The article notes that Vincentian jurist Adrian Saunders recently retired as CCJ president after producing jurisprudence of ‘exceptionally high standards’ that has never been questioned for independence.
The commentary concludes that true emancipation requires legislative action to address historical injustices through expanded reparations committees, community-based initiatives, and ultimately full judicial sovereignty through CCJ adoption—positioning these measures as essential for completing the decolonization process.