Attorney of ‘booted’ councillors hits back

WESTERN BUREAU:

Sylvan Reid and Gladstone Bent, the two People’s National Party (PNP) councillors who were disqualified by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) on Thursday, are preparing to mount a legal challenge to their ousting, saying that their constitutional rights were breached.

“We have been instructed to take the legal steps that are necessary to ensure that the men’s rights have not been trampled on, and insofar as there are legal means available to prevent that, they will be used to the fullest extent,” said top-flight attorney K.D. Knight, who told The Gleaner yesterday that he would be representing both men in their legal challenge.

According to Knight, the corporation’s vote to strip the two men of their positions as councillors failed to take into account the fact that Reid and Bent were staying away from the meetings in keeping with the Government’s current COVID-19 guidelines as both men have underlying medical conditions.

“It may very well be that their constitutional rights are being abridged by the action that was taken. From our instructions, the action that was taken is unfortunate and does not take into account the medical conditions of the councillors,” said Knight.

“The council was depending on their standing orders, but the standing orders would not have contemplated the situation that exists now in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and neither would it have taken into account the protocols which have been established by the Government of Jamaica,” added Knight.

Reid, who represented the Salt Spring division in the corporation, and Bent, who represented the Catadupa division, were booted from their positions during the corporation’s monthly meeting on Thursday on a motion that stated that they had disqualified themselves by missing three consecutive meetings.

According to Section 30 (1B) of the Local Governance Act, “If a person elected to the office of mayor or councillor … is absent from three consecutive ordinary meetings of the council without the leave of council ... , that person shall, thereupon, become disqualified immediately and shall cease to hold the office.”

Underlying medical conditions

However, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Jamaica, the Ministry of Health & Wellness has repeatedly advised that persons who are over the age of 65, or who have underlying medical conditions, should stay home as much as possible to avoid contracting and spreading the highly contagious respiratory illness, which has resulted in a little more than 610 infections and 10 deaths to date.

In a release provided to The Gleaner on Friday, André Hylton, the PNP candidate for St James Central, which covers the division served by Reid, condemned the StJMC’s expulsion of the two councillors, describing it as an act of political desperation.

“It is wrong to apply such drastic measures of sanction against both councillors during the COVID-19 pandemic environment. To go this far against a disabled councillor like Councillor Bent [who is 65 years old and blind], and to show disregard of the condition created by the pandemic demonstrates a level of desperation and destructive politics that cannot advance peaceful coexistence and collaboration,” Hylton stated in the release.