CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet, Wednesday, called for the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Parliament, Claudius Francis, after the High Court Tuesday ruled in his favor in a matter involving the Privilege Committee.
“It’s clear to me that the Speaker either did not get any advice or chose to advise himself, and instead of taking heed of the letter, he decided to double down on it,” Chastanet told a news conference.
Through his attorneys last year, Chastanet had written to the Speaker that he had no authority to bring the matters before the Privileges Committee.
Francis, chairman of the Privileges Committee, had referred complaints made by Chastanet against government ministers Richard Frederick and Dr. Ernest Hilaire to the Privileges Committee last year.
Frederick took umbrage against remarks directed at him over a recent visit to the United States. Hilaire took exception to accusations supposedly linking him to a joint account with a deceased Saudi billionaire. Hilaire has repeatedly denied the allegations.
But in a ruling on Tuesday, the High Court said the Speaker had no power to refer to the Privilege Committee any complaint made by a member of Parliament against another member in respect of privilege or contempt.
“The purported referrals in or about October 2022 by the defendant (Francis) to the Committee of Privileges of the complaints made by…Both Richard Frederick and Ernest Hilaire, against the claimant, are null and void. Of no effect, the defendant having no power to refer to the Committee of Privileges any complaint made by a Member of the House of Assembly against another Member in respect of a matter of privilege or contempt,” the High Court ruled.
It said the claimant’s costs of this claim and the interlocutory application for injunction filed on October 24 last year “shall be paid by the defendant to the claimant, such costs to be assessed if not agreed.”
Chastanet told reporters he was questioning why Francis had proceeded with the matter.
“We can only say this is political malice, and the Speaker was intentionally trying to embarrass me as the political leader of the United Workers Party, to send a message to the rest of the United Workers Party members that I am not scared of even your leader.
“The only remedy to this situation is that the Speaker ought to do the right thing after embarrassing and undermining the reputation of the Parliament of St.Lucia, despite all of the advice that he had been given and which he chose to ignore, causing the state to have to spend unnecessarily in this tough time….”
Chastanet said there is clear evidence “that this had to be political victimization at the expense of the reputation of St Lucia and the expense of the taxpayers of this country.” As a result, Francis should resign.
The Opposition Leader said that Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre should move to replace Francis, hinting at a motion of no confidence in the Speaker.
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