‘What you crying for?’ – DPP to teachers

Those persons complaining about a recent Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court judgement that ruled against three teachers who had brought a case against the Government are some of the same ones who voted against constitutional reform when it was put to the public vote in 2009.

This is the view of Director of Public Prosecutions Colin Williams, who voiced his opinions while calling into the morning programme on WE FM on February 22.{{more}}

“In 2009, there was an effort to amend the Constitution of St Vincent and the Grenadines – to do a number of things to deepen, widen and broaden the democratic process… which many teachers voted against!” asserted Williams.

He also noted that the Collective Bargaining Agreement that had been signed by the Government and the SVGTU 2005 – which allowed for teachers to be reinstated if they lost after taking a no-pay leave of absence to contest general elections – would have been supported by the proposed Constitution of 2009.

“So, the teachers who wanted the changes that were available to them in this prospective agreement, voted against the same draft Constitution that provided the gateway to enhance the provisions of the Constitution – they voted against their own interests, and now want to cry foul!”

The DPP added: “This is where people are so short-sighted, so myopic, so confined to their own narrow, little partisan positions that they are unable to see the bigger picture and where you are heading. So, when you voted against the 2009 Constitution, you were by extension endorsing that the 1979 Constitution remains…”

Williams reiterated that the Constitution, at Section 101, provides that “constitution is the supreme law in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and any law which is contrary to the constitution is void to the extent of that inconsistency.”

He also pointed out that the Constitution stipulates the qualifications and disqualifications that are involved in a person being able to contest general elections and also being elected to Parliament.

“A collective bargaining is not the law of the land; it is something less than the law of the land.”

Williams also criticized Speaker of the House Jomo Thomas, who was the Unity Labour Party candidate for the South Leeward constituency in the December 2015 general elections, for remarks he made while speaking about the matter on Boom FM’s morning radio programme on February 15.

Thomas, whose law firm represented the three teachers in the case against the Government, had said that the decision not to re-employ them was “politically motivated”.

Williams said that he was disappointed that Thomas had allowed himself to be “railroaded” into publicly saying that the Government was at fault.

“If you go to court, then you have to abide by all the legal considerations that apply to that court process… the Constitution is one of them!”

He added: “He cannot claim and be saying that the Constitution is being used as a shield. He is the one who took the matter to court. If you go to court, the court has a legal process. If you are not seeking a legal resolution, why go to court then?”

Three teachers, Elvis Daniel, Addison Thomas and Kenroy Johnson as, resigned from their posts in 2010 to contest the general elections, candidates of the New Democratic Party (NDP), but were not reinstated by the Government after they lost.

The ruling against the teachers was handed down on February 10, 2016, by Justice Brian Cottle. (JSV)