(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should consider taking a cue from Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice of Appeal Wendell Kangaloo and also return her Senior Counsel instrument to President George Maxwell Richards, People’s National Movement chairman Franklin Khan has said.
Khan said while it is not the PNM’s position to comment on the Judiciary, both Archie and Kangaloo did the “honourable thing” as he commended them yesterday on their decision.
“They acted in good faith. They protected the image of the judiciary and put institution before self,” he added.
On December 30 Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Archie and Kangaloo were among 16 who received the title of Senior Counsel, referred to as “silk” for the particular silk gowns associated with the award, from Richards.
The appointments were proposed by Ramlogan and agreed to by Persad-Bissessar, who then informed the Office of the President.
He noted that it was traditional for the Attorney General to give himself silk and therefore Ramlogan receiving the title was “still palatable” based on the current system. He said Persad-Bissessar, while an attorney, was not a “nationally prominent” one and Khan argued that she received the title of Senior Counsel, which is for legal prowess, for “being Prime Minister”.
“It is an abuse of process and she should also consider, with how the situation is evolving, to return (her silk) also,” he said.
Khan said the PNM supported the Law Association’s position that Government should set up an independent body to recommend “silk”.
He added that it is an important national issue that is supposed to be “non-political”.
He pointed out that acting Prime Minister Winston Dookeran was right to encourage debate on the issue, a statement he made during last week’s post-Cabinet media briefing. Khan also advised that the nation should look for more “transparent systems to allocate “silk”.
He described the current situation as a “gaffe” on the part of the Government and a “sign of immaturity and lack of experience”.
