KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Aug 8, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Friday said that an attorney in private practice will be appointed to act as Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) as from next month until the end of the year.
Gonsalves told Parliament that there is no need for “any sense of disquiet” amidst a series of resignations from the Office of the DPP.
The DPP, Sejilla McDowall, has been appointed to act as judge from September 1, and her appointment comes even as the two assistant DPP posts have not been filled after the holders vacated the positions to take up appointments elsewhere.
The sudden resignation of Senior Counsel Richie Matiland, a Grenadian, on July 29, and the resignation of Allana Cumberbatch leave the office with just four crown counsel, two of whom are said to be planning to leave.
Gonsalves told legislators that Attorney General, Grenville Williams, had informed him that he was advising the Chief Justice to have “an experienced lawyer from the private sector in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, for a period from the first of September to the end of December, as the director of public prosecutions acting”.
Gonsalves said he knew there had been some questions in the public domain after McDowall’s appointment to act as a judge, assigned to Dominica.
“We will know whether that assignment morphs from temporary into permanent sometime during that six-month tenure.
“And then, we ourselves, obviously, have to make a decision for a recommendation by the Honourable Attorney General in the normal processes of consultation as to someone who would finally be appointed DPP, just in case the incumbent doesn’t come back from her temporary judgeship.”
Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs, said he and the Attorney General had “a very good discussion” on issues concerning the Office of the DPP.
“And I want to assure everyone that the DPP office would be well-resourced for the period of time when there’s the acting DPP and beyond. I think it’s very, very important to allay any concerns about this important office in the judicial system,” Gonsalves said.
He urged people who have been speaking “in a very uninformed way about one or two persons who have decided to resign … at the DPP’s office, that is to say, persons down the line, a couple have done so, … be circumspect and don’t speculate on this or that.
“And I see all the speculation, and no one has asked the Attorney General, and no one has asked the Minister of Legal Affairs.”
Gonsalves’ ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration does not allow ithe Attorney General to speak in Parliament.
“So, I just advise that, this early morning on my birthday, for the purposes of good governance and not to create any sense of disquiet, there’s no reason for that. Absolutely none,” said Gonsalves, who turned 79 on Friday.
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