Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) should resign immediately in the interest of the country and the Judiciary.
“The CJ should put the country first; should put the justice system first,” Persad-Bissessar stressed in an interview during the tea break at yesterday’s House of Representatives sitting at International Waterfront Centre, Port-of-Spain.
She insisted: “This is a case where I believe the interest of the majority, the interest of the country and the interest of the justice system outweigh whatever disadvantages may accrue to the CJ in these circumstances.”
Persad-Bissessar’s comments were made in the wake of Thursday’s Law Association’s vote of no confidence in Archie and other JLSC members over their handling of the short-lived appointment of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar as a judge. Ayers-Caesar resigned within a few weeks after it was revealed she did not complete 53 part-heard matters before her departure from the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court.
Persad-Bissessar said the vote was “a landmark decision in T&T. There has never been anything like this before.”
Joining the increasing list of people calling for Archie to resign, she said the vote “shows that persons who hold high office must be transparent and accountable.”
“It is a very sad state of affairs for the administration of justice in T&T, as the CJ has this major cloud hanging over his head with respect to presiding over the justice system,” she said.
She said there was constitutional provision where Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley could initiate proceedings for the removal of a chief justice.
“There are those who suggested that we can avoid all the further entanglements and trauma the country may (have) to go through, should it reach to the point where a tribunal is established or proceedings are taken to remove the CJ from office and so some are suggesting that he should do the right thing of his own volition and resign,” she said.
“The JLSC and the CJ have a lot to answer for in this whole impasse that has transpired.”
She said she had “never seen lawyers so agitated, aggressive and so determined by their action to show their displeasure and disgust as to what has been happening.”
She said the country’s image was being severely affected internationally and even nationally by the sequence of events in the past weeks.
“It is a very sad and tragic day for us in T&T. It is really something that is out of the ordinary, extraordinary and places us internationally in a very bad light but even locally now,” Persad-Bissessar, a former prime minister, said.
She said if lawyers had no confidence in the Judiciary “how would an ordinary man going before that court feel? Would they have confidence in getting justice and the answer is simply no.”
According to Persad-Bissessar, the CJ’s handling of the matter fractured the “rule of law and of the constitutional democracy in T&T (and) we have no place to go but get worse.”
She then suggested Archie and JLSC “may want to consider whether they should prevent the country going through further trauma in this matter by doing the honourable thing and resign now, save the country from further fracture, further trauma and do it now.”
Persad-Bissessar, also an attorney for several years, said she was also surprised by the turnout at the Law Association’s meeting and what was revealed during the proceedings.
“There is a severe distrust and lack of confidence in the CJ. There was cross-section of lawyers, it wasn’t UNC or PNM lawyers, there were lawyers from everywhere and it was an amazing development we are witnessing.”
She said the matter will also not end quietly.
“This is not going to pass and will continue to haemorrhage, continue to further damage the administration of justice and the justice system in T&T.”
