St. Lucia’s Attorney General says there was “nothing irregular” with Senate sitting

The government of Saint Lucia’s principal legal advisor says that the country would have been exposed if the Senate did not meet last Friday. The Upper House was originally scheduled to meet on October 1 but Opposition and Independent senators were a no show. Senate President Jeannine Giraudy-McIntyre indicated that with only 4 senators in attendance, there was no quorum and therefore the sitting could not have taken place.

A sitting was subsequently scheduled for the next day and Angelina Polius was sworn in as Government senator, whilst Jacinta Lee and Marcella Johnson, as temporary Independent senators. This move paved the way for the passing of the COVID-19 (Prevention and Control) Bill— a replacement to the state of emergency which expired on September 30.

During an interview on the National Television Network on Wednesday, Attorney General Stephen Julien explained that the quorum was constituted with the appointments. He noted that the House’s Standing Orders anticipates that there will be a scenario where you may have to populate the senate with new senators. Lee and Johnson, he said, were only appointed for that sitting.

“The appointment is made by the Governor General; let’s not lose sight of that. The Governor General makes the appointment and the oath is taken in the chamber. There is no need to vote for the temporary appointees in the Senate. So you simply go in there; prayers, you go into the appointment of new senators, then you go into the announcements and the business of the day,” Julien said.

“There was nothing irregular. This is something that I had considered and I have been able to since establish that there’s nothing irregular about that. Let’s deal with a scenario where for whatever reason, you have the majority of your senators being incapacitated. Does it mean that absolutely no business is done? Surely that cannot be what is envisaged. We have taken a literal interpretation; you read the Standing Orders for the Senate, it is clear what the procedure is. Have your prayers, you take the oath of allegiance of new senators and then you move onto the business of the day.”

Julien stated that Saint Lucia would have been exposed as a nation if the sitting had to be scheduled for a later date. “That was for me, the nightmare scenario,” he noted. “Some were suggesting that we could have put Senate for next week Thursday. So between last week Thursday which was the 1st to now, we would have nothing in place.”

Pointing to Saint Lucia’s newest COVID-19 case, the AG asked: “Would we be able to impose any protocol on that individual? The answer is no…That person would have been out in the general public, back in their community and it would literally be what I just said earlier: the nightmare scenario… If we couldn’t do it, then that would have been my advice but I was satisfied from the moment this scenario occurred in the Senate, as to the way forward.”

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Philip J. Pierre announced Sunday that the SLP is considering “legal action.”