Full report soon on Attorney General’s eligibility to vote to elect a Speaker

Members of the House will soon find out what is the ruling of the Speaker on the issue regarding the Attorney General’s eligibility to vote to elect a Speaker of the House of Assembly.{{more}}

During the Speaker’s Announcements at last Thursday’s meeting of the House, Speaker of the House Hendrick Alexander said that he will make available to the members of Parliament the full legal report regarding the issue, once it becomes available to him.

“I have this morning received an executive summary on that report and the full report is expected to follow,” the Speaker of the House said.

He said that he was given the assurance that the report will be ready soon and he had made a decision to wait until that report was ready, rather that reading from the executive summary.

On January 20, 2011, during the adoption of the minutes from the December 29, 2010 meeting of Parliament, Opposition Parliamentarian and Area Representative for the Northern Grenadines, Dr. Godwin Friday, who was absent from last week’s session, indicated that the New Democratic Party challenged the fact that Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan had been allowed to vote along with the other members of the House, to elect the Speaker.

Friday contended that under Section 41(3) of the Constitution of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Attorney General, who is not a member of the House, cannot vote on matters in the House.

Back then, Alexander said that he would seek clarification on the issue.

But members of the opposition walked out of the May 24, 2011 sitting of the House after Friday raised the issue of the Speaker’s failure to provide a ruling then, on the matter.