The Opposition Leader of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar, slammed the government and the Attorney General in particular over its interpretation of the ruling of the Privy Council on the postponement of local government elections. The following is a release:
Opposition leader: AG Armour appears to be not of sound mind and memory. His press conference yesterday was self-admiration and absurdity personified. He humiliated himself and the entire legal profession by adding 3 judges from the TT Court of Appeal to 2 Law Lords from the Privy Council and then claimed a five to three victory for himself and the PNM. This was a first in the history of the Commonwealth.
Our very democracy is threatened by one who should be the Guardian of the Public Interest. Reginald Armour’s dishonesty, incompetence, exaggerated opinion of his own importance and total lack of legal acumen are dangerous to the office of the AG, confidence in our legal system and the democratic rule of law.
Yesterday in a press conference Reginald Armour did the following:
1. He humiliated himself and the entire legal profession by adding 3 judges from the TT Court of Appeal to 2 Law Lords from the Privy Council and then claimed a five to three victory for himself and the PNM. This was a first in the history of the Commonwealth.
2. He chose to ‘interpret’ the interpretation and unilaterally revised the Privy Councils’ decision that the postponement of Local government elections was unlawful and illegal to now be lawful.
3. He threatened the media, commentators and citizens that they must report the whole of the PC judgment or be in contempt of court when this is totally false. That comment was intended to have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and expression.
4. He decided to waste taxpayer dollars to seek more bad advice from PNM senior counsel lawyers about the PC judgment. These are the same ‘eat-a-food’ grovelers who have received over 1.2 billion dollars in legal fees from the PNM.
Now, instead of calling the local government elections, Armour and the government are seeking advice to bring bills to parliament to:
(a) Validate the actions taken since the date the local government elections were due and
(b) extend the time for calling the date of new local government elections.
I again call on Rowley to accept that his government has committed an unlawful and illegal act by postponing the Local government elections and he must now do the right thing for the population. He must fire his disgraced and dishonourable AG Armour and name the date of the local government elections now!
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP
Leader of the Opposition
19th May 2023