It wouldn’t take long before those currently inviting Government to attack the Chief Justice move on to accusing Government of “hounding” the CJ out of office, says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
“I have more important things to do. If there are those who want to spend their time baying at the heels of the Chief Justice, they could do so if they wish. My understanding is there are specific conditions to remove a Chief Justice—and I not wasting time,” Rowley added yesterday.
The Prime Minister was commenting at yesterday’s post-cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, on current issues concerning the judiciary and yesterday’s ruling concerning the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC).
Rowley said he’d had no discussions with the Chief Justice. He said the Attorney General had talks with the judiciary some time ago on the justice system—but not the CJ’s tenure.
Rowley said he’d noted years ago, the accusation that former prime minister Patrick Manning had “hounded” former CJ Satnarine Sharma “out of office.” He said some media practitioners repeated that even now.
But Rowley said there was absolutely no truth to it. He said he’d been in Manning’s office on the day Manning told him about the matter, saying, “Look what they dropped in my lap.”
Rowley said that was a matter of serious allegations against Sharma by the then Director of Public Prosecutions. Noting Manning’s experience of being wrongfully accused, Rowley said he wouldn’t be accepting the “invitation” from those urging him to attack the current Chief Justice.
He said the JLSC court matter had been brought by members of the former (People’s Partnership) cabinet, including a former AG who was under “serious allegations of the worst kind.”
He said if the courts had ruled in the Opposition’s favour the consequences would have been quite grave” and would have served their purpose, “to create mayhem”.
Rowley said the two former High Court judges at issue in the JLSC matter were in those same positions under the past administration.
“Apparently they weren’t an annoyance to the (PP) Government then,” he said.
On perception that courts may be complicit in a political agenda, he said, “Systems are as good as the people who operate them - there ‘s no perfect system and there are very few perfect people.
“Institutions might have flaws or failings, but you need to have confidence in their inherent goodness and respond when you have flaws and demand accountability.”
Rowley said he maintained confidence in the judiciary.
