COME January 16, 2023, High Court Judge, Damone Younge, is expected to hand down her ruling on whether or not she has the jurisdiction to hear the case filed by eight A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Members of Parliament (MPs), who are challenging their suspension from the National Assembly.

The suspended MPs are Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones, Sherod Duncan, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Annette Ferguson, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Ganesh Mahipaul, and Maureen Philadelphia.

On July 21, during the 48th Sitting of the National Assembly, the House officially approved the report of the Committee of Privileges, which recommended that the eight parliamentarians be suspended for their involvement in desecrating the Speaker’s Mace on December 29, 2021.

The disgraceful incident occurred during the debate on the Natural Resources Fund Bill. Chaos broke out at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) at Liliendaal, where the National Assembly was sitting, when the Opposition MPs attempted to prevent Senior Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, from speaking.

During the commotion, MP Ferguson attempted to steal the Speaker’s Mace, and was joined by some of her colleagues.

Following the mayhem, a Motion tabled by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, was passed in the National Assembly in January 2022 for the eight elected officials to be referred to the Privileges Committee for their actions.

The Privileges Committee later presented a report that recommended that MPs Ferguson, Philadelphia and Jordan be suspended for six consecutive sittings for committing serious violations in removing the Parliamentary Mace from its rightful position.

The report also recommended that Sarabo-Halley be suspended for six consecutive sittings. It was recommended that Jones, Duncan, Singh-Lewis and Mahipaul be suspended from four consecutive sittings.

The suspended MPs later approached the court. In addition to the Attorney General, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, were named as defendants.

Justice Younge, had previously heard arguments from Attorney General Anil Nandlall, S.C., and APNU lawyer, Roysdale Forde, S.C., on the preliminary issue of jurisdiction.

Nandlall submitted that the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter given that Parliament was empowered by the Constitution to function independently.

Initially, the ruling was set for December 8, but the judge later decided to push back the date to January 16, 2023, due to “recent events of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Last month, the Full Court denied an application by Forde, challenging Justice Younge refusal to grant an interim conservatory order to allow the eight suspended MPs to attend sittings of the National Assembly, and to receive their salaries.

The Full Court ruled that the “appeal was ‘premature’ given that no decision was made by the High Court below that can properly be made the subject of an appeal.”