Parnell Campbell Q.C.: ‘Insults have no place in a National Debate!’

A veteran attorney here says he is insulted by a letter which was published in local newspapers two weeks ago and he is advising Vincentians to question the source of information when reading publications or listening to radio programmes.{{more}}

This advice has come from Parnell Campbell Q.C. as he spoke on his television programme “The Law and You” on SVG TV on Monday evening.

Specifically, Campbell is offended by a letter written by Shefflorn Ballantyne, captioned “What have we come to… they think we stupid?”, which was published in at least two of the weekly newspapers on July 31.

In the letter, Ballantyne questions Campbell’s interpretation of Section 38 of the 1979 Constitution of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and suggests that Campbell is deliberately trying to mislead the people.

Section 38 speaks about the manner in which the Constitution can be amended.

Ballantyne’s letter, in part, reads: “A reasonable man, when he reads this section from our constitution, will never conclude as Campbell did. This section clearly puts the manner of the referendum within the discretion of parliament. Parliament will determine how it should be done, whether they think it should be by amendment where persons can vote yes to one section and no to another, or by voting for the entire bill with a single YES or NO. I think this is very clear. But it causes me to believe Mr. Campbell thinks we are stupid. Does he think he can, by decree, remake that section of our constitution? Nowhere in the section is his idea supported…it does not forbid voting by amendments! So please, Mr. QC, stop making people believe that foolishness. It is just not true and you know better! We not stupid!”

On Monday evening, Campbell, clearly irritated, said: “When I speak about Section 38 of our Constitution, I know what I am speaking about. Constitution Law is something I have been studying since the year 1970. It was my favourite subject in University. I tutored in Constitution Law. I was the guardian of the Constitution for eight and a half years as the Attorney General.”

Campbell also explained in detail his involvement with the amendment of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Constitution in 1986 and 1988, the only two times that the Constitution has been amended.

“The first amendment was made in 1986 when I was a Senator in the House,” Campbell said, adding that on June 5th, 1986, when that bill was debated, he presided over the House in the absence of the speaker, since he was Deputy Speaker.

The second time the Constitution was amended was in 1988. Again, Campbell was involved. “I was the one as Attorney General who piloted the bill in Parliament to amend the Constitution of this country, using Section 38,” the former New Democratic Party (NDP) parliamentarian said.

“Where a person has been involved in Parliament actively on the only two occasions when the Constitution was amended… you have to come really strong to show that that person doesn’t know what he is talking about if he speaks about the procedure for amending the Constitution,” Campbell quipped.

He continued: “When you read publications in the newspaper or elsewhere, and when you … hear people calling in on radio stations or hosting programmes on radio stations, speaking about topics, the first question you must ask yourself is ‘What does that person know about the topic that he or she is speaking about?’. In this country, there are any number of people who want to proclaim expertise in areas that they know very little about. Constitutional interpretation is a technical art. It is something (for) which you need training or need to be properly guided.”

Campbell also questioned whether Ballantyne has any legal training. “Perhaps he has some secret legal qualifications of which I am unaware.”

“I would suggest from reading what Mr. Shefflorn Ballantyne wrote he does not understand the subject. A little learning is a dangerous thing. So he proceeds to quote parts of the law and has the effrontery to say that I am not only wrong, but misleading the public!”

Campbell said when he spoke on the topic in the House of Parliament on May 28, 2009, and explained why a referendum with people voting on different bits of a bill cannot be had, he spoke in the presence of several lawyers, none of whom challenged him.

“When I spoke, you had on the Government side: The Attorney General; the Hon René Baptiste; two legal Senators – the Hon Richard Williams and the Hon Rochelle Forde. Then on the opposition side of the House, you had the Hon Lorraine Friday, Member for the Northern Grenadines, a lawyer. Sitting with me were the members of the drafting team, the Hon Francis Alexis QC and Dr Hamid Ghani – he is not a lawyer, but one of the draughtspersons. You had with me Mr. Bertram Commissiong QC, and there were at least two other lawyers sitting as members of the public in the House of Assembly…. Nobody quarrelled with my interpretation (of Section 38) because it is correct,” Campbell said.

The lawyer, whose educational television programme has been running for over ten years, made it clear that he would not have minded if Ballantyne, who is is a lecturer in Accounting at the Division of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College, criticized his opinions or even differed with him on legal interpretation. He is particularly incensed, however, by what he says are Ballantyne’s attempts to impute improper motives to him.

“Don’t tell me that I think people are stupid. That is insulting and I don’t think insults have any place in a national debate on constitutional development.

We of the CRSC (Constitutional Reform Steering Committee) welcome the expression of opinions by members of the public, but Mr. Shefflorn Ballantyne should remember there is a difference between expressing your opinion and trying to insult somebody who knows far more about this subject than he will ever know,” Campbell asserted.