The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper published an editorial Tuesday suggesting that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago should fire her justice minister, Herbert Volney, for remarks made last week about the country's chief justice.Jyoti has published the unedited editorial below. You can also read it at its original source by clicking on this link to the GLEANER.
"Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago who once taught in Jamaica, is still new to her job. So, policy gaffes by the PM and her administration are still overlooked on account of recency.
"It is, however, now passing the point where Mrs Persad-Bissessar can continue to expect this kind of pass. Which is why how the prime minister handles what is yet only a sticky situation, but potentially a fundamental governance crisis, is of importance.
"Her initial step is far from reassuring. Instead of a bold move that emphasised her authority as leader and cauterise the problem, Mrs Persad-Bissessar was tentative and ineffectual.
"She can, however, recover.
"The matter involves her justice minister, Mr Herbert Volney, who recently left the judicial bench straight for the hurly-burly of Trinidad's electoral politics, and the broadside he launched in Parliament last week against the country's chief justice, Ivor Archie.
"Justice Archie, as is his choice under his employment contract, lives in a home provided by the government of Trinidad and Tobago. His personal house is rented.
Corrupt arrangement
"Mr Volney, under the cover of parliamentary privilege, suggested, among other things, that this was part of some corrupt arrangement between Chief Justice Archie and John Jeremie, the attorney general in the former People's National Movement government, for which Mr Volney hardly ever hid his contempt.
"Since leaving the high court earlier this year, Mr Volney has aimed not-so-veiled barbs at Mr Archie and, implicitly, the courts. He has, in the past, been warned by the chief justice.
"Last week's remarks by the now justice minister, made during the Budget debate, have been widely condemned in Trinidad and Tobago's legal fraternity and by Chief Justice Archie.
"Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, too, has distanced herself from Mr Volney's remarks, declaring them to be "unfortunate and unnecessary". They reflected, she said, "his personal opinion and in no way is the official position of the prime minister or the People's Partnership government regarding its perception, attitude or policy concerning the judicial arm of the state and, indeed, the honourable chief justice".
"But there were no outright condemnation or reprimand of Volney. Instead, Mrs Persad-Bissessar sought to fashion an excuse for former Justice Volney, suggesting that he may have been overenthusiastic "in the context of a first-time Budget debate".
"That, of course, is nonsense - made worse by Mr Volney's entrenchment of his position, telling journalists he had done nothing for which to apologise.
"If something does not look good and does not smell good for my constituents, I have a duty to bring it to their attention," he told reporters.
"If Mr Volney feels that Chief Justice Archie is personally corrupt and/or that he has facilitated the corruption of the court, and has real cause for action, there are constitutional avenues to have Justice Archie, or any other judge, impeached. These processes are not only known, but have been used in Trinidad and Tobago.
"Otherwise, by calling the judiciary into disrepute and weakening public confidence in the judiciary, Mr Volney will only have eroded a critical barrier against overreach by the legislature or the executive.
"A perceptive Mrs Persad-Bissessar would fire Mr Volney."
Reproduced from the Jamaica Gleaner
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