Cabinet meets despite CCJ ruling; notes contract awards
Gov't wants CCJ to determine status of Cabinet
The Cabinet, comprising the President and his council of senior ministers, continues to meet despite the June 18, 2019 ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that the No Confidence motion of December 21 was properly passed.
In its ruling, the CCJ had said the passage of the motion triggered Article 106 (6) and (7) of the Constitution which dictates that the Cabinet resign and elections be held in three months on the passage of a No Confidence motion.
“We have seen nothing in the ruling of the CCJ which says the Cabinet should not meet,” Joseph Harmon, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency said at a press conference Thursday morning.
In the first ruling in the legal challenge, delivered by the Chief Justice, it was determined that the Cabinet was instantly dissolved on the passage of the No Confidence motion; the Government then abandoned Cabinet meetings and met instead as what it called a “plenary.” The Government then reposed all the powers of the Cabinet on that plenary.
When the Court of Appeal upturned the High Court ruling, the Government restarted the Cabinet meetings.
Now that the CCJ has upheld the original ruling, the Government wants the CCJ to determine the status of the Cabinet.
It is one of the matters that the Government has submitted for clarification to the CCJ on July 1. The CCJ will make its ruling on July 12.
“We will await the clarification of the CCJ on that matter,” Harmon stated.
During meetings following the CCJ ruling, the Cabinet noted the award of several multi-million dollar contracts.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited to reflect that the Cabinet “noted” and not “awarded” the contracts.
