Law Association President
Has Difficulty With Judge Resigning To Be A Candidate

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday said he was concerned about the implications for the judiciary after a Supreme Court judge Herbert Volney resigned to contest the upcoming general election.

“As a matter of principle, I have a difficulty with someone making a swift decent from the bench into competitive politics and the reason I have a problem with it is that it will create a worry in the minds of the public that the judiciary is harbouring would-be politicians,” Martin Daly said on local radio. Only hours after he tendered his resignation from the bench on Wednesday, Volney was named by United National Congress (UNC) leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar as a candidate for the May 24 poll.

But Daly said while there was nothing legally wrong with Volney’s decision, it did not sit well with him.

“I think that this swift decent into competitive politics by a sitting judge, although not prohibited by the constitution or other laws, will reflect negatively on the institutional independence of the judiciary,” he added.

Volney’s decision has drawn condemnation from Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who is heading the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) at the election, and Chief Justice Ivor Archie, among others.

“To what extent has the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago been interfered with … has judicial independence been compromised? But I want to say one thing; the one thing I am sure of is that there is rejoicing in the Judiciary today,” Manning told supporters on Wednesday night.

He also questioned the decision of senior magistrate Ramraj Harripersad to contest the upcoming elections. Harripersad has not been confirmed as a candidate as yet, but is expected to be announced on the UNC ticket over the weekend.

“I ask you another question, my dear friends, how long have those discussions been going on? How long has there been an association with the two members of the bench and the United National Congress? Has there been interference in the Judiciary by the United National Congress in violation of the concept of separation of powers?” the Prime Minister said further.

Manning said this issue might look like a simple one but, “it is not simple at all, it is fundamental and when you start to interfere with judicial independence you are interfering with the governing system at the very root at its very core and those who do that like to accuse others of being dictator. They accuse me of being a dictator, have I ever done anything like that my dear friends? Never!”

The Chief Justice also expressed concern that Volney, who has been a judge for more than 15 years, might have been engaging in negotiations with a political party. He said it was “vital that judicial officers, in reality and in the perception of the public, remain independent of political parties and the cut and thrust of national politics. Daly said it was understandable that many questions were being raised about the judge’s decision to enter the political fray immediately after stepping down from the bench.

“They are legitimate questions … naturally, people would be concerned that if anyone while sitting as a judge was meeting and treating with politicians and political parties. That’s bound to raise an anxiety in the minds of the public and that is what is unfortunate about this,” the Law Association president said.

In announcing Volney as a candidate for the election called more than two years ahead of schedule, Persad-Bissessar said: “Imagine what it took for a distinguished judge as Justice Volney to arrive at the decision to leave behind his career as a judge to become involved in the change that is so desperately required in our country.

“He would be leaving all his years of study, his dedication to the Judiciary, the benefits accrued from his position and he may open himself to the ridicule that is sure to come from Manning and his PNM simply because Justice Volney chose to put Trinidad and Tobago before his own needs,” she said. The UNC leader said that Volney’s decision underscored the desperate need by every sector in the society to remove the Prime Minister from office.

“The whole country is coming together. The whole country is uniting together against what Manning has done to this once-peaceful progressive twin-island state,” Persad- Bisessar said.

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