AG stands by his Senate statement

Attorney General John Jeremie said yesterday that he stood by his statement made in the Senate on Tuesday February 1, 2005, in response to the queries from Senator Wade Mark on an alleged plot by the Government to remove Chief Justice Sat Sharma from office. According to Hansard, the AG, in response to Mark’s charge that there were moves afoot to have the Chief Justice removed from office, said, “Mr Vice President, this is entirely out of order. The Constitution does not allow a Government to remove a Chief Justice. It is not possible. An Executive cannot remove a Chief Justice from office. It is ignorance of the highest order and highly inflammatory language.”

In his statement, issued to the media yesterday, Jeremie stated that under Section 137 (3) the ultimate authority to remove a sitting Chief Justice remains with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and contrary to the statements made by Senator Wade Mark, no Chief Justice can be removed from office by any act of Government, or action of the Executive.” The statement added that according to the Constitution, the Prime Minister simply “represents to the president that the question of removing a Judge under this section ought to be investigated” and has no role in the ultimate decision. “Therefore when Senator Mark accused Government “of being involved in a plot to remove the Chief Justice from office,” he was displaying “ignorance of the highest order and highly inflammatory” as I (AG) informed the Senate.”