The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) on Monday reserved its decision in a matter between prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit and leader of the opposition, Hector John, as it related to the manner in which former president, Eluid Williams, was elected.
John, on behalf of the United Workers Party, had challenged the election deeming it unconstitutional.
The matter was appealed to the ECSC by the government after High Court Justice, Lionel Jones, ruled the Court in fact had jurisdiction on the matter and John’s claim was not “frivolous, vexatious nor an abuse of the process of the court.”
Meanwhile the ECSC has granted Kieron Pinard-Byrne leave to take a matter between himself and then broadcaster, Lennox Linton, to the London-based Privy Council.
The ECSC had previously over turned a High Court decision which ruled that Linton had libeled Pinard-Byrne.
The ECSC is presently meeting at the parliament building in Roseau.
More on these stories later.
As if it have more important things in Dominica that need attention like poverty and education and other economic hardships than election of a former president. All president doing is show up to functions and sit at the front. Lets make the real issues in Dominica a priority please. If the opposition members themselves were feeling the pinch of the hard times their priorities would be different.
It is really amazing. Here we have two conflicting opinions on the law and procedures established by the law. These are led by two trained and experienced lawyers including a senior counsel with tremendous results litigating constituional matters. The matter came before three judges of high repute in the Caribbean. Yet still an immediate deicison could not be arrived at.
Yet still, we have people here with no training in law or any field whatsoever have authoritative positions on issues of the application of the law.
It is a war against classes and it has always been that way……..you expect justice……fairness….evil rules….my Bible says so
These judges are cowards. So much time they had already to come to a conclusion. Now they will leave and pronounce their judgement from a distance, in the safety of their own jurisdiction.
So much for a CCJ!
This Gov’t have made us the laughing stock of the Caribbean. No wonder Dominicans get no respect when they travel because our Gov’t can simply do as they please without any repercussion. And “YES” it’s our dam business.
ALL courts reserve judgments they have to study the various submissions forwarded by the respectable attorneys. Let us not appear so dounce to the rest of the reading world. Some people just love to be deliberately stupid. how on earth do you expect the court to deal promptly with thousands of pages of submissions in one day.
“Appear so dounce”? What exactly do you mean? And “respectable” lawyers when you mean”respective” lawyers. Please, get your English right lest “the rest of the reading world” thinks we Dominicans are stupid.
The “ECSE” operates like the British Corporations of old. They wash their hands when they see fit. Why do we even consult with them?
and all you want CCJ
We need, specifically, a Constitutional Court to deal with these matters in an expeditious manner
Is it reserving its decision for another three years, like it did in the case of Skeritt. When will that nonsense ever end. Maybe as far as the ECSC is concerned Dominica is a mickey mouse country.
To me I fed up with those court cases. Waste of money
Who cares? Skerrit citizen ship case was a wake up call of justice in the caribbean.
That’s just the beginning of the judicial process. I’m confident the law, the constitution of The Commonwealth of Dominica will prevail. Unlike those who think and say “no law no constitution can stop them from doing what they want,” the time will soon come when the wheels of justice shall turn in the right direction.
What right direction do you surmise it to be?