What Does It All Mean?

Last night the WEEKEND NATION asked constitutional lawyer Ezra Alleyne to explain what happened in Antigua and Barbuda yesterday and its possible consequences.

"THE CONSTITUTION of Antigua and Barbuda says that the Prime Minister shall [also] vacate his office 'where for any reason other than a dissolution he ceases to be a member of the House' and the decision of the court meant that the Prime Minister was no longer a parliamentarian!

"So that the immediate impact of the decision was to plunge the island into something of a constitutional crisis, since there would have been no prime minister, had the decision not [been] challenged.

"The Governor General would have had the duty to appoint a new Prime Minister who would then have had to appoint his own Cabinet, since the Constitution also provides that . . . .

"A minister other than the Prime Minister shall vacate his office when (a) any person is appointed or reappointed as Prime Minister.

"Fortunately, the lodging of the appeal together with the order for a stay of execution, now defuses the crisis and restores the position to what it was before the court's decision, but we have to await the eventual outcome of the hearing of the appeal and any further appeal!

"Meanwhile, the current government remains in control unless political horse trading, or a general election robs the governing administration of its majority before the appeal is heard."

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