WE SURVIVED

SEAN DOUGLAS

“WE SURVIVED.”

This was how Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley summed up the tenure of Anthony Carmona as President, during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

Replying to a reporter’s query on Carmona, whose five-year term ends on Monday, when retired justice Paula-Mae Weekes takes office, Rowley dipped his head momentarily, smiled and then grappled to open a bottle of water. “Current President...we survived. We survived. I wouldn’t want to be the person marking the paper on that. I don’t think it is something I would want to engage in. I’m a student of history and I think sometimes you need a historical perspective on these matters,” Rowley said.

Earlier, Rowley held nothing back when he stated pointedly that Carmona as President had abrogated powers to himself which he did not have, in agreeing to Chief Justice Ivor Archie’s request for a six-month sabbatical. In a letter the PM sent to the President yesterday, Rowley told Carmona to ensure that he follows the law when agreeing to vacation leave that Archie is now seeking in lieu of the sabbatical.

Rowley expressed consternation over a Judiciary letter he had seen on Wednesday night which he said, presented a new problem for which he had earlier yesterday written to Carmona.

COURT TO RULE ON SABBATICAL

The PM also revealed that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi is to ask the courts to rule on whether judges are entitled to a sabbatical but in the meantime, Cabinet has no say over Archie taking vacation, reported as being 35 weeks of accumulated leave, in place of the six-month sabbatical initially sought. This vacation is purely in the realm of the President.

Rowley admitted that while his senior counsel (SC) had advised that Archie has no claim to a sabbatical, the Attorney General’s own SC had advised that Archie may have a case. He declined to name either of the externally-sourced SCs, whose contradictory advice to the PM and AG, was paid for by the tax payer.

Rowley said his position is that sabbatical was merely a recommendation contained in the 98th Report of the Salaries Review Commission (SRC), but that support voiced previously in the Lower House by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal, did not constitute formal approval. “A Hansard opinion is not substitute for Cabinet authority,” Rowley stated.

Saying the President has no right to grant a sabbatical to Archie, Rowley said he guards the executive’s authority zealously. He admitted the court’s determination on sabbaticals could reach as far as the British-based Privy Council.

NEEDS TO BE HANDLED

Asked why the Cabinet is seeking the court’s ruling on the sabbatical issue when Archie had agreed to instead take vacation, Rowley replied, “This is not about ‘a guy’, but about changing the terms of engagement of every single member of the Judiciary. It becomes an entitlement. There’s a serious cost to that.”

He said the case tests Cabinet’s authority and if it is allowed to stand, what else could stand? Saying the CJ is not himself testing the sabbatical issue, the PM pointed out, “But he is causing it to be tested.” Rowley also said he took “serious umbrage” to a daily newspaper listing him as one of three public officials (also President and CJ) as falling down in their duty, when instead he carefully ensured the executive had acted responsibly. “You don’t skylark with your Constitution because matters can explode.”

He said while not yet a constitutional crisis, if not handled properly this issue could get out of hand. “That’s why I objected to the President granting sabbatical.” Asked if he had received any complaints against CJ Archie, which could trigger the invoking of Section 137 of the Constitution which deals with impeachment proceedings, Rowley said, “When that changes, I’ll let you know.”