Judge says lawsuit over Parliament makeup time-sensitive and important

A High Court judge hearing the lawsuit challenging the makeup of Parliament on the basis that not all 21 members of the Senate had been appointed, says it is a “time-sensitive matter”.

Madam Justice Cicely Chase Q.C. made the position clear on Friday when the civil case, brought by former Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite Q.C. through his attorneys Queen’s Counsel Garth Patterson, Michelle Russell and Rico Yearwood, resumed in the High Court today for case management.

“To this court and to the public of Barbados at large, this is an extremely important matter. I want the issues of law addressed as preliminary points . . . and issues of fact . . . and then any other applications which are before the court will be heard,” she said as she set next Tuesday and Wednesday for attorneys on both sides to make their submissions on issues canvassed through Friday’s sitting.

Brathwaite is before the court asking for the decision of President Dame Sandra Mason to reconvene Parliament to be quashed. He is contending that the Upper House is not fully constituted, with only 18 of the 21 members appointed so far, and therefore the Parliament is not fully constituted.

Brathwaite’s lead attorney, Patterson, said his client filed the claim in his capacity “as a public minded citizen and in the public interest”.

“We accept the business of the country, the business of this country’s Parliament must be conducted and that these proceedings touch and concern the central question of whether or not the Parliament, as constituted, comports with the Constitution . . . and it goes to the question of the validity of the Parliament and its ability to pass law,” the Queen’s Counsel said as he maintained that his side saw the case as an “an urgent matter” which should be dealt with “expeditiously”.

During the virtual sitting which attracted around 225 members of the public, Brathwaite’s team and the attorneys representing Government’s case put forward several issues that they believe the court should deal with.

Patterson explained that since the January 19 general election where no opposition party won a seat in the country’s Parliament, a national debate had arisen as to whether or not President Dame Sandra Mason “ought to be appointing to the Senate the two persons who, in the normal course of things, [fill] the so-called opposition seats.”

So far, the President has appointed 18 persons to sit in the Upper House with three appointments still to be made.

Parliament has since convened.

“We say she did so, notwithstanding that the Senate has not been properly constituted. So issue one, I think the most central issue, is the Senate properly constituted?”

The Government’s legal team – consisting of Queen’s Counsels Leslie Haynes, Roger Forde and Alrick Scott, along with Gregory Nicholls and Simone Scott from the Attorney General’s Chambers – agreed.

Haynes stated: “That is an issue with which we can all agree – that is, whether the Senate is properly constituted in accordance with the Constitution of Barbados.”

Among the issues for the Government’s legal team was whether the court is permitted to enquire into “the alleged failure by the President to appoint two senators to the Senate; if the court finds that she had powers to do so but acted unreasonably; [and] the President appointing February 4 the date of commencement of the current session of Parliament.”
fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb