BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CHAIRMAN of the Constituency Boundaries Commission (CBC) Anthony Johnson returned to the witness stand yesterday (Aug. 20) and spent less than five minutes responding to a single question from the government’s side.
Johnson was called as a witness during the St. Kitts opposition party People’s Action Movement (PAM) judicial review of the manner in which the CBC formulated a report proposing changes to the Federation’s constituency boundaries.
Following almost nine hours of cross-examination by lawyers representing PAM, counsel for the CBC Dr. Henry Browne posed only one question to the witness.
He asked Johnson the position of the Prime Minister’s office in relation to the office of a CBC member, Hon. Cedric Liburd. Johnson promptly stated that the two offices are adjacently located within Government Headquarters.
On Wednesday, there was an apparent discrepancy during Johnson’s cross-examination regarding the time and place that the Prime Minister received the CBC report.
When the counsel for PAM, Mia Mottley QC, enquired into such details, Johnson explained that before submitting the report to the Governor General, he had visited the office of Hon. Cedric Liburd around 1 p.m. on July 2, at which time the Prime Minister entered and was handed a copy of the report.
Contradictory to Johnson’s statement, Mottley referenced a transcript of statements allegedly made by Prime Minister Douglas at a July press conference, in which he explained that the CBC Chairman came to the Office of the PM to present the report.
The PM went on to say that having been informed earlier that the report would be handed over, he sent notice that Parliament would meet on July 3.
Little clarification was offered by Johnson during the cross-examination, but he made it clear that he did not give any notice that the report would have been presented to the Prime Minister.
He stated that he was not in a position to speak to the Prime Minister’s version of what happened.
Two other witnesses, member of the Boundaries Technical Committee Beverly Harris and the Attorney-General Hon. Dr. Dennis Merchant, were also questioned yesterday afternoon.
