BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SOME measure of resolution has been brought to a contention tabled by Leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM) Lindsay Grant yesterday (Sep. 23) over a ruling giving the government leave to appeal a matter in the ongoing constituency boundaries case.
Immediately after Justice of Appeal Michael Gordon handed down his ruling that the counsel for the government may file an appeal, lead counsel representing the government Anthony Astaphan made a pronouncement on the decision and the way forward for his team.
The government’s lawyers received leave to appeal the decision of Her Ladyship Justice Rita-Joseph Olivetti to uphold a standing injunction. The injunction prohibits the Supervisor of Elections and the Electoral Commission from acting upon boundary changes in a report from the Constituency Boundaries Commission filed earlier this year.
Astaphan’s announcement triggered a speedy response from Grant. He immediately called in to a radio programme and told the public that the announcement was “very disheartening”, as his party had not received any notification from the Court of Appeal in St. Lucia.
Grant noted his displeasure, adding that this may validate the arguments made to support appeals at the Privy Council.
“And this is why people have difficulties with abolishing appeals to the Privy Council, because here it is, the appellants could come on radio and speak about some Judgment being delivered in St. Lucia when up to now we have not yet had sight or information about what transpired,” he stated.
Within a matter of hours, senior counsel Astaphan explained that his team received a fax from the Chief Registrar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in St. Lucia, which was also sent to lawyer for the claimants Vincent Byron. He noted that the fax was also sent to the Registrar of the High Court of Justice.
Astaphan criticized Grant, calling his statements a “dishonest and dishonourable” attempt to “discredit the integrity” of the Court of Appeal simply to score “cheap political points”.
“It is time that these politicians who seek political power stop seeking to discredit the integrity of the Court because they don’t get what they want, or don’t get what they expect. These are serious matters and I think it is unfortunate that such irresponsible statements are being made.
“When the Court of Appeal refused the earlier applications, we did not hear Mr. Grant criticize the Court,” he argued. “Suddenly now he finds it convenient to criticize the Court in a most insidious and dishonest way.”
Some closure was brought to the matter today (Sep. 24) when, according to WINN FM, Vincent Byron informed that he had received the fax earlier yesterday but had been out of office for most of the day. He added that he did not inform Grant about the fax at that point.
Editor's note: This article was updated today (Sep.25) to correct a typographical error in the original document.
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