BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, December 7, 2009 (Labour Secretariat) - Lawyers representing the government in the ongoing judicial review in the constituency boundaries case have expressed concern about the “foot-dragging tactics” of lawyers representing the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and have indicated that they will renew the application for Justice Francis Belle to recuse himself from the case.
An undertaking was given to the court at the beginning of the proceedings by the government that the matter will be heard expeditiously and that the government will do nothing with respect to boundary changes until the matter was speedily heard.
However, 14 days have passed since the judicial review began and the Respondents in the matter think that there is a deliberate attempt by PAM’s lawyers to delay the proceedings for their own political ends.
Respondent Dr. Henry Browne told the court that based on the way the case was proceeding they were advised by their clients to withdraw the undertaking which was “not an open-ended undertaking” but one given under the condition that the matter would be treated with a measure of urgency.
“Every single day there are new applications and we revisit the same issues over and over again,” Lawyer Sylvester Anthony said to reporters.
“Our clients were of the view that they couldn’t continue to operate in a position where they felt that their hands were tied behind their backs so our instructions were to withdraw the undertakings,” he added.
Justice Belle responded to the withdrawal for the undertakings by imposing an injunction on any further proceedings of the Constituency Boundary Commission (CBC), the signing of any report or the use of any report to do with the realignment of the constituency boundaries.
The Respondents have renewed an application for Justice Belle to recuse himself from the case. At the beginning of the case the judge turned down an application for him to recuse himself from the case saying that the grounds were “laughable”.
It is the third time that Justice Belle has been asked to recuse himself from the said case.
In the first application for Justice Belle to recuse himself it was said that that the judge’s statements raised doubts about his objectivity in the case and prompted the filing of an application for him to “recuse himself” in the interest of a fair trial.
Justice Belle had made “emotionally charged” statements leveled at the Prime Minister and recused himself from the case because according to him “he didn’t want them to feel that they were subjected to an angry judge”.
The court proceedings will continue on Monday.
