HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon at his weekly post cabinet press briefing again reiterated cabinet’s position that all spending being undertaken by the Government is legitimate. He said that Cabinet was briefed by the Attorney General on the status of the legal action brought by the Leader of the Opposition Brigadier (rtd), David Granger. He said, “The Chief Justice, in his earlier ruling, has dealt with this matter conclusively and yet the Leader of the Opposition thought it necessary and convenient to apply to the constitutional court, a legal action against the Minister (of Finance) and Speaker (of the National Assembly); our understanding having being aware of the Chief Justice ruling begs the question, why?”
Dr. Luncheon said that there is a lack of understanding as to what lies behind that resort. He said that the Leader of the Opposition has again sought, on constitutional ground, to question and take to the Constitutional court, actions by the Minister of Finance that, by the Chief Justice’s earlier ruling, are perfectly legitimate. Further, he pointed out that from the Attorney General’s presentation, the legal arguments on the efforts by the Leader of the Opposition to prevent the Minister of Finance from expending sums of money under constitutional coverage are not expected to commence before December 29, 2014, and is unlikely to conclude before December 31, 2014, the date which the expenditure being queried by the Leader of the Opposition, is being sought to be stayed.
The Leader of the Opposition on Thursday last filed a writ in the High Court naming the Minister of Finance, the Attorney General and the Speaker of the National Assembly as defendants. He is seeking to stay all spending by Government on projects not approved in the 2014 Budget. The Attorney General was on Monday, on request, granted seven days by the Chief Justice to reply to the action after which the lawyer for the Opposition Leader will have a further five days to reply before the matter comes up for report on December 29, 2014, when a date will be set for the hearing.
The Head of the Presidential Secretariat said also that the Attorney General updated Cabinet on the State’s effort with regard to the appeal for a stay of execution of the Chief Justice ruling in the matter of the petition by an attorney in support of a client under the Sexual Violence Act was successful. He said that the Attorney General had advised Cabinet that the efforts of the State had prevailed and a stay of execution of the Chief Justice ruling, which essentially had said that paper committals were unconstitutional, had been granted. This, he said, will allow for paper committal to be concluded and those in abeyance to be concluded.