Sharma: Paula an excellent choice

Former Chief Justice Sat Sharma yesterday described the nomination of retired Court of Appeal judge Paula Mae Weekes as the country’s next President as an excellent choice and added it was a high time for a woman Head of State.

“I think she’s an excellent choice.”

He was responding to the announcement by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young on Friday that Weekes was Government’s nominee for President. In a media report Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the opposition will not oppose the choice.

Sharma said he has worked with Weekes and described her as a very firm, decisive and no nonsense person.

“She is very strict. Straight as an arrow.”

He described her as very knowledgeable and a good listener. He also expressed his belief that Weekes will be scrupulously fair “which is so important in this country.”

“I have no doubt she will perform very well.”

Sharma also said he is happy that the nominee is a woman.

“I think it is high time. And long overdue.”

In a CNC3 interview yesterday, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi responded to concerns about Weekes’ eligibility for the role in terms of residency. He said Weekes took up an appointment as a judge in Turks and Caicos in February 2017 and that obligation only requires her to serve for three weeks at a time in that jurisdiction and she therefore maintains proper residency in this jurisdiction.

“It is something which the Government has had specific regard to.”

Weekes is a retired judge of the local Appeal Court (2005 to 2016), and last February was sworn-in for three years as a justice of appeal in the Turks and Caicos Islands. She is on course to become this country’s first woman president and sixth president overall after Sir Ellis Clarke (two terms from 1976-1987), Noor Hassanali (two terms from 1987-1997), Arthur NR Robinson (one term and a year from 1997-2003), Professor George Maxwell Richards (two terms from 2003-2013) and her immediate predecessor Anthony Carmona (2013-2017). Richards, a former University of the West Indies principal, was the only president not to have a legal background.