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News from St Vincent & the
Grenadines
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Letter: SVG Constitutional Bill is flawed
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| Published on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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Dear Sir:
I read with great interest a letter published on the October 6 of your issue under the caption: "Mischief side-show on St Vincent Constitution" written by one named as Benson Straugh.
I have made inquiries and no one in St Vincent and Grenadines knows this Straugh, and with such detailed information about dates, etc, and the text, I am of the view it is written by a government official, or someone close to the government, who is fearful of stating his name because I might outline some of his dishonest action to the public.
The writer went into pains to give details and cited sections of the Constitution, but he deliberately failed to point out that the Bill went into Committee stage before the expiration of ninety days which followed the second reading and as such the second reading is ultra vires since the
90 day requirement was not met.
The 90 days is mandatory so that there can be public awareness of the measure and the government was expected to organise a public awareness campaign. Moreover the time was allocated and a legal requirement under section 39 (3) (a) of the Constitution for lawmakers especially those in the opposition to get feedback from their constituents on the measure.
The author insinuated that I want to return to St Vincent to work under a NDP regime, but I would like the public to know that I have absolutely no interest to live and work in St Vincent for several reasons. I was robbed of my gratuity on the advice of the then Attorney General, PR Campbell, who had accused me of handing over a memorandum to his political arch rival at the time, Ralph Gonsalves.
In my capacity as Solicitor General I had written a staff member who was close to Campbell of her dishonest acts, and another employee who did not like her pompous attitude gave Dr Gonsalves a copy of the memo which was read by Ralph on national television.
Campbell claimed parliamentary privilege and accused me in the House of giving Gonsalves the letter for political mileage. I had dared Campbell to repeat it outside of Parliament, but knowing that his allegation was a lie, refused the challenge.
Now Campbell "is in bed " with Gonsalves, who is now the Prime Minister, and recommended him as Queen's Counsel which he got, although he was forced to resign in disgrace for borrowing $2 million from an offshore bank and other wrongdoings. This is public knowledge and recorded in the House of Assembly when he was appointed QC, eyebrows were raised in the Eastern Caribbean, but it did not end there.
Campbell's Letters of Patent are different from other QCs in the Eastern Caribbean. Although they were signed by the then Governor General, the Letters of Patent were similar to those awarded to QCs in the United Kingdom and not limited to the Eastern Caribbean jurisdiction.
It is not known why a different precedent was used by Campbell when he prepared the Letters of Patent for Execution by the Governor General, but knowing PR he did not want to be a QC for the Eastern Caribbean States, only, but the Commonwealth.
His QC Letters of Patent, like the Constitutional Bill, are ultra vires, since the Governor General had no authority to sign a Patent which had the format which only Her Majesty the Queen should sign.
Strange things happen in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Two former attorneys general who were convicted are still practicing attorneys and one was honoured by the Queen after his conviction. Two other senior lawyers who were charged with forgery and another dishonest offence, and they were only given a slight slap on their wrists, and a Queen's Counsel was appointed a Magistrate - the lowest rung in the judicial ladder... the first ever QC to be a Magistrate in the Commonwealth.
The letter stated that I served under the NDP administration and want to go back to work with that administration, but I wish to make it clear that I was not recruited by the NDP administration. I was offered the position by the then Chief Justice, the late Lascelles Robothom, in 1988 and the NDP was in office at that time.
There are "tons" of wrongdoings in that State and Mr Benson Straugh, or whoever you are, I wish to make it pellucidly clear that I have absolutely no intention of working in that country.
Oscar Ramjeet | | | | Reads : 1066 | | | |
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