BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CURIOUS minds will have to wait a little longer to hear arguments of whether or not an opposition lawmaker, who is a US Green Card holder, is eligible to sit in the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, as the case was adjourned until the July sitting of the Court of Appeal.
Former government minister Cedric Liburd, who lost to Eugene Hamilton in the January 25, 2010 General Election, is appealing last October High Court’s decision that “it was no concern of the court” and its refusal to invalidate Hamilton’s election to the lawmaking body.
That decision was handed down by Her Ladyship Indra Hariprashad-Charles.
However, lawyers for Hamilton and Liburd were yesterday (Mar. 16) late in filing their arguments as they stood before Her Ladyship Justice Janice George-Pereira, His Lordships Davidson Baptiste and Tyrone Chung.
Liburd’s counsel, Dr. Henry Browne told SKNVibes that he was late in filing his arguments.
“I was a little late with the skeleton arguments for Mr. Liburd. The arguments raised by Mr. Liburd and raised by the Attorney General are almost identical, but the rules are the rules and the court said in the circumstances they were not able to absorb the arguments put by Mr. Byron on paper,” he said.
According to a release coming out of the office of the Prime Minister, Justice George-Pereira said that the Attorney-General was in compliance with the rules of the court, but late filing by lawyers Browne and Terrence Byron who is representing Hamilton would prevent justice being served if the matter were to proceed.
Papers are to be filed within 28 days.
While the Office of the Attorney-General had filed on December 22, 2010, Dr. Browne was said to have filed on behalf of Liburd on February 28, 2011 and Byron, on behalf of Hamilton, on March 15, 2011.
Justice George-Pereira told the lawyers that not following the court rules, which are not only set in St. Kitts and Nevis but throughout the eight other jurisdictions, makes a mockery of the system and the process of the court.
The next Court of Appeal sitting in this jurisdiction would be in July and the case would be heard then. However, following a meeting with all the lawyers in Chambers after the adjournment, agreement was reached that the matter could be heard in May as one of the lawyers involved would be appearing at the Privy Council in London.
The Court of Appeal ordered Liburd and Hamilton to pay costs to the Attorney-General and also Liburd to Hamilton.
Liburd had filed the Election Petition on the grounds that Hamilton was a United States citizen or a Permanent Resident of the United States (Green Card Holder).
Justice Hariprashad-Charles in her ruling said that in order to preserve that Green Card, it is mandatory that Hamilton maintains an unrelinquished lawful permanent resident status in the United States with any absences from that country being temporary.
“This is the defining characteristic of lawful permanent resident status in the United States,” she said.
She added that Liburd insisted that in applying for and obtaining the grant of lawful permanent residence, Hamilton had undertaken to maintain an unrelinquished lawful permanent residence status in the United States.
Justice Hariprashad however ruled that she found evidence that Hamilton lives and works in St. Kitts and occasionally visits his wife and children in Florida.
Hamilton had also told the High Court under cross examination that he was the holder of a United Sates Permanent Resident Card and that his wife and all his children lived in the United States. And that although he is a permanent resident of the United States he does not pay taxes, has never paid taxes, has no obligation to pay taxes and is under no obligation to obey the laws of the United States.
In a previous release by the People’s Action Movement, the suit was said to have come as a huge surprise as Hamilton has never been under any scrutiny concerning his citizenship status, and that he sees the suit as another ploy by the Labour Party.
“The claim and the challenge brought by my defeated opponent Mr. Cedric Liburd and the Labour Party in my view is frivolous, vexatious and ridiculous and is simply a further attempt to continue the relentless smear campaign that was unleashed on me in the lead up to the elections.
“Cedric Liburd and the Labour Party orchestrated the most elaborate and vicious smear campaign ever to be waged against any political candidate in St.Kitts-Nevis, and despite their absolute best efforts it did not work as I was duly elected on Jan 25. However, it seems that their failure to dirty my name has only served to motivate them to try in some way to bring me down, so they are now resorting to what I can only describe as harassment with this latest ridiculous and frivolous claim of dual-citizenship,” Hamilton said.
