Khemraj Ramjattan wants President Jagdeo for five daysJuly 28, 2011 | By
KNews
| Filed Under
Features / Columnists
,
Freddie Kissoon
In what has turned out to be a huge surprise in terms of timing, the libel suit President Jagdeo filed against me, the publisher and editor of this paper, has begun in less than a year after papers were filed by Mr. Jagdeo.
Hundreds of important cases, including sixteen libel suits that this writer knows about, have been sitting on the shelf for over five years now. There is the Opposition Leader’s writ against the Integrity Commission which is more than three years old.
I asked attorney Timothy Jonas, President for the Bar Association for a comment against the huge backlog in the High Court.
He said that for the libel to come up so quickly is very rare but he knows of one similar case in which the late Clem David was sued for libel and the timing of the hearing was similar to mine.
Readers would know that Mr. David was an anti-government critic. Can we ask the question that the two quickest libel hearings involved anti-government critics?
Mr. Jonas went on to state that the day of the hearing is at “the discretion of the Chief Justice.â€
He said it would have been the Chief Justice who would have set the timing. Should I be worried by what Mr. Jonas referred to as a rarity?
Should the media and the press debate the issue? Surely, it cannot be denied that all the citizens in this country, (and I say all) know that cases in the High Court take years to see an initial hearing much less a completion.
Mr. Jonas could only cite one example of quick hearing. I can’t help asking the media if they shouldn’t seek a comment from Justice Ian Chang, the Acting Chief Justice.
Since the matter was called up on Tuesday, scores of persons including lawyers have told me the early trial seems definitely surprising.
I inquired from Mr. Jonas about the principle of all being equal before the law.
He said that while he thinks an early hearing is a good thing he believes all should be equal before the law therefore others should be given an early day. I cannot see how any human being can disagree.
If hundreds and hundreds of citizens are waiting for over five years for just a first hearing, why should the President’s libel suit come up in less than one year, I repeat, less than one year? I ask the question again – should I be worried?
I have three lawyers – Nigel Hughes, Khemraj Ramjattan and Christopher Ram – who have promised me that they will take the matter to its logical climax, meaning the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
We are a long way from there but once the CCJ comes up for discussion, the debate begins about why only two countries (Barbados and Guyana) have accepted the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ and the rest of CARICOM stays with the Privy Council in London.
In Jamaica and Trinidad, lawyers and political analysts and others (including PM Golding of Jamaica) fear political bias of the judges. Mr. Golding was incandescently clear on that. He hasn’t shown any enthusiasm for the CCJ over the Privy Council
The inescapable point is that the CCJ is staffed by judges from CARICOM territories. Caribbean people feel that in each CARICOM land, judges tend to favour the political masters of the country and give judgements partial to such politicians. With this kind of attitude, they will take the same proclivities into the CCJ.
It is for this reason there are still strong feelings among Caribbean people that the white judge in London will be less biased.
I ask the question for the third time – Should I be worried? Anyway, let’s inform readers what happened in court on Tuesday. I was present and so were the editor and publisher of KN. Mr. Jagdeo was not there.
The judge asked Mr. Anil Nandlall how long he will take with cross-examining. He said two days and he will call two witnesses.
Obviously one has to be the President. When the same question was put to Ramjattan, he told Justice Reynolds that he will need at least five days to question the President. That seems like a short time for me.
If Mr. Nandlall will take two days, surely, my three lawyers will need three times that period to ask Mr. Jagdeo about the state of affairs in relation to policy-making and the perennial question of ethnicity in Guyana. I suspect this will be Guyana’s most intriguing court case ever.
Note: Lawyers 
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