Basseterre, St.Kitts:--Judge Hariprashad – Charles delivered a stinging blow to Attorney General Patrice Nisbet and the Denzil Douglas Administration in her judgment delivered in the petition case brought by Cedric Liburd.
The esteemed office of the Attorney General was embroiled is what was clearly a political vendetta brought by the Labour party through the failed candidate Cedric Liburd. An election petition case is a private matter brought by individual candidate; it has no constitutional or public interest to warrant government involvement yet the government, through the office of the Attorney General, inserted itself in this case.
The Denzil Douglas administration incurred hundreds of thousands dollars of costs to the public for the entirely unnecessary and unwarranted intervention of a Queen's Counsel and a regional expert in the frivolous Liburd petition. The final bill is as yet undecided however it is certain that the Treasury will be hit for a substantial amount.
Observers have suggested that the Queens' Counsel alone, Mr. Delano Bart QC along with the learned and noted Dr. Lloyd Barnet will command fees in excess of a quarter of a million US dollars.
"This unscrupulous expense raises serious questions about the state of priorities that this government has with taxpayers' money in these difficult times" said People's Action Movement Political Leader Lindsay Grant. "How can Denzil Douglas justify this when his government is laying off hundreds of civil servants and cannot even keep the lights on" Grant added.
