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Posted: Sunday 18 January, 2015 at 10:35 PM

Old Boundaries or New boundaries?

By: Terresa McCall, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE goings-on at Government Headquarters and the High Court of Justice on Friday afternoon (Jan. 16) have left the populace with one burning question, which is key as we progress into an imminent election: Are we still on the old boundaries or do we now have new boundaries?

     

    Report, proclamation, gazetting…

    Recapping what transpired on that historic day, the Constituencies Boundaries Commission met at Government Headquarters at 1:00 p.m., where it is said its final report was presented and signed only by three of the five-member Commission; the Opposition Members did not sign.

    The document, according to reports, was handed over shortly after 4:00 p.m. to the Prime Minister and an Emergency Sitting of the House of Assembly was convened, during which the report was tabled and, despite attempts by the Opposition to prevent it in the House, the resolution was approved by Parliament.

    According to Unity Member and Candidate Jonel Powell, whom this media house interviewed during the Emergency Sitting of Parliament, the Opposition was at that point in the process of taking legal action against the tabling of the report. 

    When asked what the action was, Powell said he would not have released that information at that time.

    Sometime after 6:00 p.m., Prime Minister Douglas, among others, stood on the steps of Government Headquarters and announced that the unamended Resolution was gazetted. He also indicated that he had advised the Governor-General to dissolve the Parliament, which gives effect to the new boundaries.

    The injunction

    Legal counsel for Team Unity Chris Hamel-Smith SC told WINNFM that the Court had granted Team Unity the injunction during the sitting of the Emergency Sitting of Parliament.

    “That is why the judge gave the injunction in the form of stopping the proclamation of the resolution, because by that stage it made no sense trying to stop the actual sitting of the Parliament because, of course, that was in progress. However, she had stopped the resolution from being proclaimed, which is what is required for it to have effect.”

    The irreversible process

    Legal counsel for the Government Sylvester Anthony told Freedom FM however that the injunction was obtained after the process took place and therefore the process is irreversible.

    “The proclamation was infact gazetted and then to add to that, the House was dissolved. The dissolution of the House gives effect to the boundary changes, so any injunction that is seeking to stop the boundary changes, or that is not served on the various persons before that happened, seems to me to be of no moment.

    “…The process that happened today (Friday) is irreversible. It cannot be reversed because there were no orders obtained against the process prior to the happening of the process. And any orders that purportedly have been obtained were obtained after the process had been completed. Therefore, the process which took place today is irreversible…”

    With both sides appearing confident in their respective positions, it means that the belief on one side is that the boundaries remain unchanged, while on the other side they have been successfully realigned.

    But which is it?

    The old or the new?

    Unity Leader the Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris told SKNVibes yesterday (Jan. 17) that the fact that the Court issued the injunction means that “every other thing is moot”.

    But according to Anthony, in hearings where the persons(s) against whom an order is being sought is absent (ex parte), and the law does not allow the Court’s order to be effected until the relevant parties have been served with the relevant documentation.

    A Unity press release issued recently stated that Attorney General the Hon. Jason Hamilton was served a copy of the injunction, but it did not indicate when service was done. It however echoed Harris’ sentiments that effect is given to the Court’s order as soon as it is made.

    A Court hearing is scheduled for later this week where the matter is expected to be resolved.

     
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