Judge rules in favour of former Postmaster General, Clare Wallace

Former Postmaster General (PMG), Clare Wallace, has secured a major court victory against the government of Dominica.

Wallace, through her lawyer Kondwani Williams, took the government to court challenging her transfer from Postmaster General to Deputy Director of Audit and then to Trade Officer 1. According to court documents, the transfers occurred between September 2016 and January 2018.

Her lawyer claims that the Public Service Commission (PSC) was not competent and had no power to appoint any person to hold or to act in any office or to transfer or remove any person to which section 86 of the Dominica Constitution applies.

Williams also argued that her transfer to the post of Trade Officer 1 was in effect an “unlawful reduction in rank and or demotion which is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect in law because this post is not a post which is equivalent in grade or status to the post of Postmaster General.”

He stated that she is and remains in her substantive post of Postmaster General to which she was last substantively appointed by instrument of His Excellency the President in pursuance of Section 86(2) of the Constitution and in so doing, he acted in accordance with the advice of the PSC dated October 20, 2011.

In her letter to the PSC through her lawyer, Wallace sought to have the Commission withdraw its letter and rescind its decision and demanded that she be returned to her substantive post.

But the attorney general’s office who was also part of the case argued that there was undue delay in bringing the application before the court which amounts to an abuse of the process. The matter was brought to court one year and six months after the transfer.

“This court finds in favour of the claimant and hold and declares that the PSC was not competent and had no power to appoint any person to hold or to act in any office or transfer or remove any such person to which section 86 of the Dominica Constitution applies,” Judge Bernie Stephenson wrote.

“The decision of the PSC to remove and purportedly transfer the claimant from the post of PMG was contrary to sections 85 (3)(a) and 86 (2) of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica and is, therefore, unconstitutional null and void and of no effect in law.”

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14 Comments

  1. Whocares
    July 3, 2020

    We may have a nuisance attorney general but I like where he is presently.

  2. A Tonge
    July 2, 2020

    I do hope the Public Service Commission is paying attention and sticking this statement all over the walls of their office because this is just the beginning of lawsuits to come. Too many people are being hurt by the individuals manning this Commission. These leaders of this Commission have children and families of their own, but they watch others suffer at the hands of the punitive and vindictive decisions. What you guys don’t realize is that every one why cries at the pain you inflict on them have a mother or grandmother praying for them somewhere.

    PAY ATTENTION TO THIS – TONY ASTAPHAN LOSES AGAIN!!!
    THE GOVERNMENT THINKS HE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO BAIL THATM OUT BUT GOD IS NOT ASLEEP – https://antiguaobserver.com/pm-loses-defamation-case/

  3. Sherika Felix
    July 1, 2020

    Sister your rights I’ve heard it all before, brother your rights I’ve seen it all before.
    Life does not change is just the policies. Hey Mr. President what do you say to me…

  4. Ibo France
    July 1, 2020

    @Not A Herd Follower
    You are precisely RIGHT! The present ruling regime ignores and evades the substantial issues. Their mode of operation is to use frivolous technicalities to win cases.

    This is a government that keeps the vast majority of Dominicans living at the bottom of the economic and social pyramid. This maladministration keeps people dirt poor from birth to death. This is an uncaring regime that revels in victimization, discrimination, persecution and corruption on a massive scale.

    How much longer are Dominicans willing to live in misery; from hand to mouth; to have food boxed out of their mouths by one of the most immoral and corrupt misleaders on the globe?

    Dominicans, the ship of state needs a new captain to steer it to a safe and prosperous harbour.

  5. Concerned
    July 1, 2020

    Great. Now teachers need to challenge the ministry of Education and government about not appointing them because they are not yet teacher trained. This is illegal. These people are taking advantage of the populace. Appoint these people so they can go to the banks and take out loans to do their studies.

    • Nkrumah Kwame
      July 1, 2020

      Now?? What were they waiting for?? I would have thought that as teachers, they would have known their constitutional rights.
      What were they teaching their students??
      Nonetheless, it’s always satisfying when the courts rule justly!
      HOTEP!

    • lmckoy
      July 2, 2020

      If unqualified persons are appointed, how does that affect the quality of education and what level of ‘under-qualification’ would be acceptable for appointment?

      • Concerned
        July 2, 2020

        First and foremost. No teacher whether appointed or unappointed is “unqualified”. The correct term to use here is “trained” and ” untrained” . How can one be given a teaching job if they are unqualified. What makes a teacher qualified or unqualified? The reason one is given a teaching job is because they possess the entry level qualifications for the job. Stop yall nonsense. Yall have been so oppressed and taken of by a system that you are not even thinking straight or correctly.

  6. That's news!
    June 30, 2020

    Thank you DNO for this newsworthy report. When the Court works and operates according to established law, this should be highlighted. Keep reporting on these rulings as you play your role in ensuring transparency and equity in Dominica.

    All over the world, a case like this would be headline news as it progresses….

  7. Not A Herd Follower
    June 30, 2020

    Shaking my head. Undue delay is the argument the government could offer? Delays are part and parcel of the court system. Why is that an argument? The government had no counterargument to the substantive Constitutional argument of the plaintiff.

  8. Pipo
    June 30, 2020

    It would be very interesting to learn who was appointed in Clare’s place, who took her job at the post office.That is very important to us to make sure a job was not made for somebody else at Clare’s expense.

  9. Jok'r Phoenix
    June 30, 2020

    But that not di same judge that love and siding with government so much nuh? Asking for a recused friend!

    • Concerned
      July 1, 2020

      I am wondering the same thing. I frightened when I read the article. But, business is business. Kondwani is running his business.

  10. ME
    June 30, 2020

    victimization must stop :!:

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