BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (August 23, 2009) - Anthony Johnson, Chairman of the Boundaries Commission, faced nine hours of grueling cross examination by PAM’s lead counsel Mia Mottley, Q.C. on the procedures governing preparation of the Boundaries Commission Report as evidence was presented in the Judicial Review of the Commission’s work. There was no doubt to any observer in the courtroom that he was bitterly regretting that he only spent a total of five hours and 48 minutes discussing that Report.
Johnson found himself in difficulty when recounting how often and when the Commission had met. In answer to counsel, he indicated that the first official meeting of the Commission was on June 5, 2009. When pressed by Mottley as to whether there had been no meetings for the first nine months of the Commission’s life, Johnson suddenly remembered that the Commission had met twice prior to June 5 but could not recall when or who attended the meetings.
In fact, when pressed to reveal to the court who attended those two prior meetings, Johnson was caught trying to gauge answers from Minister Liburd who was busily nodding to him.
Luckily, the judge saw that exchange and had harsh words for both men condemning their improper conduct. No minutes were recorded during those meetings. As counsel pointed out, not even the meetings of the Football Associate would be kept in such an improper fashion.
Mottley then questioned Johnson on the minutes of the June 5 meeting to clarify whether he had given the Commission members the Technical Committee Report on May 29 as he had testified, or had in fact distributed them at the June 5 meeting as indicated by the minutes. He insisted that he had distributed them in May and that the minutes were incorrect and had not been ratified, although the minutes were accurate in other respects.
When it came time to examine the Boundaries Commission Report, counsel was surprised that such a serious document could only contain seven pages. When asked about this, Johnson replied that those same inaccurate minutes should be read as part of the Report.
Johnson then stumbled over if and when he had given the Report to the Prime Minister. When asked by Miss Mottley if he had given the Report to the Prime Minister, Johnson’s first response was “absolutely not”. Mottley pointed out to him that the Prime Minister had testified that on returning from Libya, Mr. Johnson was waiting in his office and gave him the Report. She then asked him which was true. Johnson responded that he could not speak for the Prime Minister but then recalled that he was in fact in Cedric Liburd’s office when the Prime Minister came in and he gave him a copy of the report. The court was left with the difficult task to decide who was lying; whether it wasJohnson or the Prime Minister.
When it was put to Johnson that the Boundaries Commission was only concerned with preserving the majority of the St. Kitts & Nevis Labour Party, Mr. Johnson was again emphatic in his response. “That is totally, completely inaccurate and false,” he said. He then indicated that he was no longer a member of the Labour Party. Counsel did not ask when he had ceased to be a member; she left it to the court and the listeners to form their own conclusions.
