St Joseph MP Herbert Volney says he will go back to the polls if Speaker Wade Mark declares the St Joseph seat vacant on the basis that Volney has crossed the floor. Speaking on his cellphone after touring his constituency yesterday, Volney said he had written two letters to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar after hearing of the Government’s intention, telling her that declaring his seat vacant would be unconstitutional unless the Standing Orders of Parliament were invoked.
He said under the law, the Standing Orders had to be amended in order for the Speaker to invoke the provisions for declaring a seat vacant because an MP has crossed the floor. The Standing Orders govern parliamentary procedure. Drawn up by Parliament, they are administered by the Speaker. “The Standing Orders have not been amended. If they want to remove me, do so legally, not illegally,” an irate Volney said.
Volney also claimed it was Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and not the Prime Minister who had written to the Speaker. “I am not aware that the Prime Minister wrote to the Speaker. I am hearing that she questioned why the Attorney General was writing the House Speaker. The PM dissociated herself from that move,” Volney claimed. He accused Ramlogan of abusing his authority.
“I see this move by the AG as abusing his power and using state resources to harass me. I wrote the PM yesterday and today and I offered my advice on the subject. It is for her to take the sincere advice of good people. But I will not be surprised if the Attorney General and the cabal continue to have its way,” he added. Volney said he had no intention of fighting this matter in court.
“I will take the matter to the polls. I sense the ominous times of a creeping dictator if this...Attorney General is allowed to continue in the way he has begun. He has to be stopped if we are to remain a functioning democracy. It is illegal to invoke the constitutional provision because there will be no legal device to achieve that objective.”
Meanwhile, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said Section 49 a of the Constitution (sometimes referred to as the Crossing the Floor Act, which gave rise to it) cannot be implemented unless Standing Orders are made. He said in 1997 former Prime Minister Patrick Manning tried to implement the act without Standing Orders and Speaker Hector McClean ruled there had to be Standing Orders on the matter.
“The matter went to the High Court and it decided against Manning in favour of requiring that Standing Orders be made as a precedent for implementing the act,” Maharaj said. He added that Errol McLeod, in the 1970s when he was member of the United Labour Front, broke ranks with his party and an attempt was made to implement the act for him to vacate his seat.
“McLeod challenged the amendment to the Section 49 a as being unconstitutional and the matter reached to the Privy Council and it held the provision was constitutional, but by the time that was done he was no longer an MP so it didn’t matter,” Maharaj said. He added that any attempt to implement this act without Standing Orders first being made would be illegal and unconstitutional.
Maharaj warned that even if Volney returned to the polls to contest his seat, any constituent of St Joseph could take the Prime Minister, Attorney General and the State to court, and the court had the power to make the AG and the Prime Minister pay damages out of their own pockets.
Meanwhile, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said Section 49 a of the Constitution (sometimes referred to as the Crossing the Floor Act, which gave rise to it) cannot be implemented unless Standing Orders are made. He said in 1997 former Prime Minister Patrick Manning tried to implement the act without Standing Orders and Speaker Hector McClean ruled there had to be Standing Orders on the matter.
“The matter went to the High Court and it decided against Manning in favour of requiring that Standing Orders be made as a precedent for implementing the act,” Maharaj said. He added that Errol McLeod, in the 1970s when he was member of the United Labour Front, broke ranks with his party and an attempt was made to implement the act for him to vacate his seat.
“McLeod challenged the amendment to the Section 49 a as being unconstitutional and the matter reached to the Privy Council and it held the provision was constitutional, but by the time that was done he was no longer an MP so it didn’t matter,” Maharaj said. He added that any attempt to implement this act without Standing Orders first being made would be illegal and unconstitutional.