Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland has upheld the ruling of Chief Justice, Ian Chang, who ruled that Citizenship Minister Winston Felix and his colleague, Keith Scott, Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, cannot sit as technocratic ministers in the National Assembly.

As such, Felix and Scott are not present in the National Assembly today. The Speaker, in informing Parliamentarians about the issue, noted that while he has not officially received an order from the High Court, the reports in the newspapers were sufficiently reliable for him to act on.

According to Dr Scotland, he requested both Felix and Scott not to occupy their seats in Parliament, pointing out that acceptance of the court’s decision must be unequivocal at all times.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Basil Williams noted that the government will obey the court orders but vowed that they will ensure Felix and Scott return to the House.

“We will uphold the rule of Law Mr Speaker. We can assure you that we will leave no stone unturned to restore our brothers here to their rightful place,” the Attorney General said.

The decision by the High Court came about as a result of a constitutional motion filed by PPP/C member Desmond Morian back in July last year, seeking legal intervention for the removal of Felix and Scott. The party had expressed concerns over the selection of Citizenship Minister Felix and Minister Scott as technocrats to serve in the 11th Parliament.

According to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who represented Morian, the APNU+AFC parliamentarians are taking up posts that have been allocated in an unconstitutional and unlawful way.

In his ruling, Chang declared that Felix and Scott are elected members of the National Assembly, and that despite their status of elected members of the National Assembly, they do not hold seats and cannot sit in the National Assembly, since their names were not among those extracted from the APNU + AFC list of candidates to hold seats on behalf of the persons named in that successful list.