The applicants involved in several legal challenges with regards to that December 21 no confidence in the National Assembly, will have to wait until the end of the month for a decision by the Chief Justice. Javone Vickerie reports.
Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire ruled that she was unable to grant a conservatory order for the current administration to remain in office. She explained that this was not possible due to the time frames that were set by the courts for the lawyers and the litigants in the matters to make their submissions.
Chief Justice George-Wiltshire, in responding to the application made by Attorney General Basil Williams said “I would not have granted the conservatory order in any case”.
In her remarks to the applicants in the case, the Chief Justice stated that “We are going to push ahead and decide on those matters as urgently as possible because the nation is awaiting the outcome of these matters”.
During the hearing, Senior Counsel Neil Boston, representing Compton Reid, the private citizen who challenged the validity of the no-confidence motion on the grounds of Persaud’s dual citizenship, had declined to seek an order for the government to remain in office pending the decision of the court.
The legal representatives will now have between January 16 and 24 and 25 to file their submissions. Throughout January, lawyers in the case are expected to submit legal arguments in three cases related to the no-confidence motion. The Chief Justice said her decisions would be made before the end of January, 2019.
Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Barton Scotland and Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs were among public and political figures who attended the hearing on Tuesday.
