KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Sept 30, CMC -Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday Wednesday said he remains confident that he would be victorious in the election petitions now before the High Court.
Prime Minister Friday and his Foreign Affairs Minister Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble testified on Tuesday with the lawyers for the two opposition legislators repeatedly asking the two government ministers why they chose to maintain their Canadian citizenship.
Speaking on the state-owned NBC Radio on Wednesday, Prime Minister Friday said while the petitions before the High Court are “taking up a lot of my time…we said from the outset, we are confident about our position with respect to this matter”.
Friday said as a lawyer he has “tremendous respect for the court and … you know, we have to respond to this petition.
“Yesterday I gave my evidence to the court and we are continuing with the hearing of the matter today and our team of lawyers presented expert evidence from two experts. They heard also from myself and from Mr. Bramble…and today we will continue with witnesses that we are presenting.”
On Tuesday, Trinidad-based Senior Counsel, Stuart Young told reporters that there were ample opportunities for both the prime minister and Bramble to renounce their Canadian citizenship.
“And you would have also heard the question being asked repeatedly, ‘Well, why did you want to hold on to your Canadian citizenship … when you want to serve the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines?’ and that really, from a factual point of view, is something that is quite important,” Young added.
Friday and Bramble are respondents in petitions filed by defeated Unity Labour Party (ULP) candidates Carlos Williams and Luke Browne, who are challenging their eligibility to sit in Parliament following the November 27 general election last year.
Williams lost to Dr Friday in the Northern Grenadines constituency, while Browne was defeated by Bramble in East Kingstown as the New Democratic Party (NDP) won 14 of the 15 seats with only former prime minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves as the lone successful candidate for the then ruling ULP..
The petitioners argue that the two parliamentarians hold Canadian citizenship, which they say violates constitutional provisions concerning allegiance to a foreign state.
The petitioners, led by Young, presented their case in July, including testimony from a Canadian constitutional expert, while the respondents, led by another Trinidad-based Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, began presenting their case this week.
Prime Minister Friday told radio listeners he is hoping that “we can conclude the hearings as quickly as possible because it takes a lot of time and a lot of people who are there.
“It’s not just for Bramble and myself present, colleagues who come to show their support as you would expect, and they’re using a lot of time that could be otherwise spent doing more productive work on behalf of the people.
“But once this is done, it’s not going to deflect me from the work that I have to do. We are going to continue to work and serve the people. We were elected with an overwhelming mandate.
“We are the people’s choice to govern the country and that is what will prevail. You know, that is what has to be given priority because that is the choice of the people of the country and that is what I am giving priority to, to serve in the way that I was elected to do,” Friday told radio listeners.
But when Young was asked on Tuesday what he would say to members of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines public who believe it is more of a disservice for a prime minister to be constantly bogged down in court than to hold a passport to another country, Young replied by putting the responsibility squarely Friday’s shoulder.
“He chooses to be here. He chooses to hold a Canadian passport. That’s for the prime minister,” Young replied.
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