BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CROSS-EXAMINATION of the Chairman of the Constituency Boundaries Commission (CBC), Anthony Johnson, in the Basseterre High Court came to an end this afternoon (Aug. 20) following almost nine hours of him responding from the witness stand.
Johnson was called as a witness on behalf of the CBC, as the claimants, the opposition People’s action Movement (PAM) party, pushed for judicial review of a report from the CBC that proposed changes to the Federation’s constituency boundaries.
Johnson’s time on the stand dealt with the role of the CBC in the formation of the report, and the manner in which the report was thereafter dealt with.
Lead counsel for PAM Mia Mottley QC tabled the minutes of a June 5 CBC meeting in which one Commission member, Michael Perkins, noted his difficulty in accepting the data from the Boundaries Technical Committee (BTC) report because it was primarily based on the 2001 Census information.
For a brief moment, Mottley and Johnson were caught in a heated verbal exchange regarding the issue of accuracy and the weight of the BTC report in compiling the CBC’s final report. Johnson said that the Commission in no way felt “bound to just accept what was in the report”.
According to Mottley, the BTC cited new housing developments in the parishes of St. Mary’s and St. Peters. From there, she enquired into whether or not additional figures of the inhabitants in these areas were supplied.
Johnson said the Commission did not receive any figures regarding new housing developments, and that he did not deem it necessary to ask members of the BTC for such numbers.
Concerns of bias on the part of Johnson serving as the CBC Chairman were raised by Mottley, who suggested that Johnson may have had close ties with the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party. He immediately dismissed the suggestion and told the Court that he has worked with members from many different political parties.
“I’m putting it to you that the CBC was more concerned with preserving the advantage of the majority party, the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, than it was in achieving parity in numbers,” Mottley asserted. “The changes which were made in relation to Nevis had more to do with satisfying the concerns of the two opposition members from Nevis on the Commission who were dissatisfied that the BTC recommended no changes to Nevis.”
Johnson firmly rejected the claims and said, “At no time was there any consideration of how the changes could affect the outcome of the Elections. That is completely inaccurate and completely wrong. There was lengthy and rigorous debate and discussion. We sought to have greater equality in terms of inhabitants”.
In response to claims that the CBC “rushed to complete the report...because of the fact that this motion was initially filed on July 1”, as suggested by Mottley, Johnson said the statement is “completely and utterly false”.
Johnson will return to the witness stand this afternoon to be re-examined by counsel for the respondents Dr. Henry Browne. CBC member Beverly Harris and Attorney General Hon. Dr. Dennis Merchant are expected to take the stand when Anthony’s examination is completed.
