PNM attorney: Can proposed chancellor compromise separation of powers

FORMER PNM candidate for Cumuto/Manzanilla, attorney Sanjiv Boodhu, called for details of the position of chancellor which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar recently proposed as an office-holder to do some of the administrative functions currently carried out by the chief justice (CJ).

Boodhu was addressing a PNM rally at Beetham Gardens, Port of Spain, on July 10, chaired by Port of Spain deputy mayor Abena Hartley and later addressed by PNM leader Pennelope Beckles.

Calling for more details of the proposed office, Boodhu said that so far too little had been said on the issue.

He acknowledged the government's intention to consult stakeholders on how the office would be created, and which body would be responsible for the chancellor's appointment and the office to which he/she would report and be accountable.

"Friends, there is a real concern about the potential for the doctrine of the separation of powers to be compromised by this."

He referred to the ideal that the judiciary, legislature (Parliament) and executive (Cabinet) each operate independently of each other. The doctrine, Boodhu said, underpinned Trinidad and Tobago's democracy.

"The judiciary as one of the three arms of government must, by all lawful means, remain independent and must be seen always to be independent."

He asked whether the role of chancellor would mirror the current role of the court executive administrator, which is an existing position within the judiciary, or replace it or supplement it.

"So having acknowledged that there is significant discourse to be had on this issue, I would reserve any further comment for another time when our population is made aware of the true plans for implementing this proposal and the means by which it can be operationalised, in the best interest of you, the people."

When Persad-Bissessar had mooted her proposal for a new post, she had used the term "chancellor" somewhat interchangeably with the term "lord chancellor," an office-holder in the UK.

Boodhu remarked on this, to say TT became a republic 49 years ago – no longer with the British monarch as TT's head of state – and he asked the PM to drop any colonial references and to use the term chancellor.

"Let us not introduce a new office that shackles us to colonial vestiges. Do not refer to the office as 'lord chancellor.'

"The title of 'chancellor' will suffice and I will leave it at that for now, with more to be said when more is said by the government."