I practise law! – Jomo Thomas

Lawyer and Speaker of the House of Assembly Jomo Thomas says he does not mix politics with his professional practice.

At a press conference on Tuesday, March 20, held to provide an update on the upcoming assessment of general damages in the wrongful dismissal case of Otto Sam against the state, Thomas was asked how he felt about the fact that the Government had defaulted in the matter, since he had run as a candidate for the governing Unity Labour Party in the last general elections.

“I don’t mix both of those things together. I am a lawyer and I practise law…. When I take on a case, I want to win the case. I don’t care who I go up against. The fact of the matter in this case is that yes, I was a candidate for the Unity Labour Party in the last election. I am a member of the Unity Labour Party. I would like very much to see this case disappear because as I said, I think it is an embarrassment to have an affair that clearly flies in the face of the decisions of the court of St Vincent and the Grenadines….”

Thomas explained that he saw no way the State could get around the fact that the court had ordered them to compensate Sam for the illegal transfer and subsequent dismissal.

When asked if he envisioned himself contesting future elections for the ULP, Thomas said one cannot expect unanimity on every position in political parties.

“… I’ll say this – parties are not perfect. Individuals who constitute parties are not gods, so we can not always expect to have a unanimity on positions on everything. There are going to be differences and I have had a lot of differences in the way things are done. Sometimes I speak about those differences, but this difference (in the matter of Otto Sam) is not a personal or policy difference; this is fundamentally a matter of law,” Thomas stated.(CB)