Browne’s, Ramkissoon’s appointments as Parliamentary Secretaries unlawful- Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal has affirmed Chief Justice Roxane George’s April 20, 2021 ruling in which she found that the appointments of Sarah Browne and Vikash Ramkissoon as non-elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and as Parliamentary Secretaries were unconstitutional.

In a unanimous decision, the court on Tuesday upheld Justice George ruling that because Browne and Ramkissoon were both named on the successful List of Candidates (elected members) presented by the PPP/C for the March 02, 2020,  General and Regional Elections, they cannot sit in the National Assembly as non-elected members and as Parliamentary Secretaries.

Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes wrote the decision, which was backed by Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud.

Justice Gregory-Barnes reasoned that elected members refers to all the members on a successful list and not only to persons extracted from that list to take up seats in the National Assembly.

In the circumstances, she held that the Court of Appeal has affirmed Justice George’s interpretation of the term elected members of the National Assembly.

The Chief Justice had reasoned that there are provisions in the Constitution  that states that a person who was on a successful List of Candidates, but not extracted, can be appointed members of the National Assembly.

Sitting as non-elected members, Browne and Ramkissoon were not allowed to vote, a situation similar to that of technocrat ministers. 

In arriving at her decision, the Chief Justice had said she was bound by the 2020 decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Attorney General v Desmond Morian, since the two cases are similar.   

In the end, the Court of Appeal dismissed Browne’s and Ramkissoon’s appeal, declaring that they are not lawful members of the National Assembly as their names appeared on their party’s List of Candidates for the elections held on March 2, 2020.

Their names were not among the 33 names extracted from that list to take up seats in the National Assembly, Justice Gregory-Barnes noted. As such, she held, “They [Browne and Ramkissoon] are not eligible to take up seats as non-voting members of the Assembly by executive appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries.”

On the issue of costs, Roysdale Force, SC on behalf of the respondent, Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones, proposed costs of $2M against each of the appellants, the Attorney General, Browne and Ramkissoon. 

However, since the parties were unable to agree on this sum, the Court of Appeal ordered that costs are to be taxed fit for one senior and one junior counsel. The appellants were represented by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and lawyers from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

It was the main Parliamentary Opposition’s Chief Whip Christopher Jones who had moved to the High Court in December 2020, challenging the appointments.

Among other things, Jones had asked the Chief Justice to grant an order compelling the Speaker of the National Assembly to prevent Browne and Ramkissoon from sitting and participating in the business of the National Assembly but she had refused to do so.

And now that the Court of Appeal has affirmed the lower court’s ruling, it is now expected that the Speaker of the National Assembly, being solely responsible for the operations of the House, would act in compliance with the ruling.

Browne was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs while Ramkissoon was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Their appointments were made by President Dr Irfaan Ali.