The Free & Fair Elections League (F&FEL) has indicated it will appeal the recent High Court judgement that dismissed its challenge to the number of parliamentarians in Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s Cabinet.
According to Secretary of the F&FEL, George Rick James, the appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) will be filed before the week is over. He added that the League was willing to take the case to the Privy Council.
“I believe it will be done before the end of the week. I’ve said from the outset that it’s a case I wouldn’t mind [having] the Privy Council being the final arbiter because of the nature of the claim,” James said.
According to the secretary, he had “made up [his] mind from the beginning” that he would go as far if the case was lost in the lower courts, and declared that he would have “no hesitation” in doing so.
In a judgment dated July 22, Justice Clare Henry denied the F&FEL’s application seeking to have the appointment of 11 members of the House of Representatives to the Cabinet (excluding the Prime Minister and the Attorney General) declared in breach of the Constitution.
The League’s basic argument was that with 11 members of the Lower House in the Cabinet, the executive branch of government enjoyed virtual majority voting supremacy over the legislature, as members of the Cabinet are obliged to vote collectively in accordance with the government’s position.
However, the court recognized the government’s position, that because “Parliament” includes both the Lower House and the Senate, a higher total of parliamentarians exists – therefore the 11 members appointed to Cabinet do not represent a majority of members of parliament.
The League contends that when the Constitution states that the Cabinet is accountable to “Parliament,” it refers only to the Lower House. Despite their argument that separation of powers had been breached, the court ultimately found that the Constitution gives the prime minister discretion to appoint as many parliamentarians as he or she chooses to sit in the Cabinet.
When contacted, the attorney representing the F&FEL in the case, Ralph Francis said that in his opinion the number of Lower House members appointed to Cabinet shouldn’t be more that six or seven, while other members from the Senate could be appointed to the Cabinet as well. (Kieron Murdoch)