By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
May 19, 2023
Members of Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament Opposition are celebrating a privy council win against the government, following its challenge in a case brought by local resident Ravi Balgobin Maharaj, who challenged the postponement of Local Government elections.
Local government elections in the twin island republic was constitutionally due during the period December 2022 to March 2023. However, government saw it fit to postpone the elections in order to facilitate constitutional reform leading current local government representatives to remain in office for an additional year.
Government took to passing the Local Government Reform Act by a simple majority in 2022, which contained amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act, allowing local government elections to be delayed by a year. This was challenged by Balgobin Maharaj at the judicial level, but High Court Judge Jacqueline Wilson dismissed Maharaj’s injunction application to restrain incumbent local government representatives from holding office past December 3rd, the date their term ended if the one-year extension was not applied.
Her decision was said to be made based on the injunction was mainly based on concerns raised by lawyers for the Cabinet and Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi, over potential disruptions in services to citizens administered by the representatives. Justice Wilson added that concerns raised by Maharaj’s legal team over the legality of representatives being allowed to continue to hold office, including managing public funds, would only arise if he is eventually successful in his substantive case over the interpretation of the legislation.
Despite this being the first strike against Balgobin Maharaj, he persisted taking the case for an appeal where it was also dismissed in February, this time by Appellate Judges Prakash Moosai, Gillian Lucky and James Aboud. With this, his attorneys, Former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan indicated that State attorneys had agreed that the case should be considered by the country’s highest appellate court even before the appeal panel weighed in on the case, and it was something to be expedited quickly.
In March, five law lords, Lords Reed, Hodge, Briggs, Kitchin, and Richards, reserved their decision following a full day of submissions from Balgobin-Maharaj’s legal team, comprising Peter Carter, KC, and Anand Ramlogan, SC.
Reed, president of the Supreme Court of the UK and president of the panel, acknowledged there was still a “sense of urgency” in the matter and while not able to give an immediate decision “here and now,” he assured it would be “as soon as we can.”
On Thursday May 18th, in a majority decision, three law lords led by UK Supreme Court President Lord Robert Reed ruled that High Court Judge Jacqueline Wilson and the Court of Appeal got it wrong when they dismissed Maharaj’s case, while two law lords agreed with the local courts and provided a dissenting judgment.
Lord Richards’ words at paragraph 31 states that “The essential characteristic of a representative democracy, whether at a national or local level, is that the representatives are chosen by popular vote. In a modern democracy, such as Trinidad and Tobago, all individuals have the right to participate in the popular vote, subject only to specified conditions and disqualifications. In the case of municipal corporations, the popular vote is direct for the Councillors and indirect, by means of party lists, for Aldermen. It is also an essential element of any democratic form of government, whether at a national or a local level, that the electorate choose their representatives for a limited period. The right to vote out representatives is as important as the right to vote in representatives. At the end of the period for which they were elected, the electorate has the right to decide whether they wish the incumbent representatives to remain in office, assuming they stand for re-election.”
Responding to the statement from the Privy Council, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar described the “latest judgment is a vindication of the right of the people to choose their representatives, and also to choose to vote them out, if they offer themselves for re-election. The overreach of the Rowley government in manipulating the electoral process for Local Government has been unmasked by the highest court in the land. It is comforting to know that we have an independent and world-renowned Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which is far removed from any suggestions of old-boys club familiarity or from the so-called regional elites”.
In seeking to provide clarity to the public, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, held a press conference on Thursday afternoon calling on the public to be weary of the Privy Council’s ruling, and to ensure that it was read thoroughly, and not be taken as a defeat for the government. In contending with the ruling, AG Armour says the only difference was the language used which the Lords ruled would have been accepted and permissible objective of extending the date for elections.
Armour said “I suggest with respect, and I caution that any misrepresentation of this judgment will be wrongly a misrepresentation that can border on contempt. So, I urge all citizens to take the time to read this judgment carefully, and I would urge the media, in particular the print media to publish this judgment in full as a pullout in the Sunday newspapers, so that the citizens of this country can read this judgment at their leisure and not have to rely on misrepresentations of the judgment by those who will wish to misrepresent what it says so as to make political capital out of it.”
Persad Bissessar however, shared the view that “this judgment should remind all of us that we expect a higher standard from those who make our laws and from those who are accountable for the actions of the State. They will want to come now and say that the judgment was not unanimous. We expect them to intensify efforts to convince the population that the CCJ should replace the Privy Council. We have seen them infiltrate key areas in our constitutional structure. Right thinking citizens must take note of the trajectory of Rowley and the PNM – total control of all arms of the State by any means necessary. The UNC will always defend our cherished democracy and the values enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution”.
She also took time to congratulate the legal team led by AG Anand Ramlogan SC at the Privy Council, his juniors, Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial and Vishal Siewsaran, as well colleagues in London including Peter Carter KC, Jaamee Hafeez Baig and Adam Riley.
The latest outcome means that local government elections now have to be called, to which, AG Armour when questioned said it was a matter for legal counsel now.