Government outvotes Opposition to push back Morant Bay by-election

The Government used its majority in the House of Representatives yesterday to pass a bill that will delay for three months the holding of a by-election to replace former Morant Bay Councillor Rohan Bryan who died in May.

Bryan’s death created a vacancy in the Morant Bay division of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation where the governing Jamaica Labour Party commands six of the 10 divisions while the People’s National Party (PNP) now holds three.

On Tuesday, The Gleaner reported that there was no word on when the 10,923 registered electors within the division would be asked to select a new representative. Some 3,377 of them cast ballots in the February polls.

The bill was passed after 25 Government members voted in favour of an amendment to paragraph 4(5) of the Eighth Schedule of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), while eight opposition members voted against it.

Twenty-eight legislators were absent for the vote, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the minister with responsibility for ROPA.

The amendment will allow for the extension of the three-month period in which a by-election must be held in an electoral division of a municipal corporation where a vacancy arises.

The proposed extension is for a time not exceeding 90 days or three months under the condition that the country goes to war; a state of emergency is declared; there is the occurrence of a natural disaster to include an earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, outbreak of pestilence or outbreak of infectious disease; the official lists for all constituencies are not printed for election day or there is riot, open violence or other civil disturbance which results in the interruption, obstruction or abandonment of the electoral process as to prejudice the holding of a fair election.

The vote was taken after Leader of Government Business Edmund Bartlett brought the bill but faced pushback from Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell, who subsequently called for a divide.

Bartlett held that the amendment was not being made because of the death of Bryan, a PNP representative, but to provide an opportunity for the responsible minister to act in circumstances of the aforementioned types in the future.

“So, the Government of Jamaica has been proactive and responsive in the face of adversity and to that end the Cabinet has granted its approval of this bill to be tabled here today,” said Bartlett.

But Paulwell noted the Opposition's strong objection to the bill and the manner in which he said it was brought to the Lower House.

Paulwell argued that the Government had broken the law by not announcing a date for the by-election and had instead sought to rush through the bill ahead of the Parliament’s recess.

“The Government is operating unlawfully to this matter,” he said.

He argued that the law allowed for the municipal corporation to be notified of Bryan’s death, which occurred on May 1 and was recorded in the minutes of the council on May 9.

On notification, within 90 days an election must be held to replace him.

Paulwell noted that under the law, the by-election must be held by August 9 but said that it is impossible for this to happen because preparation must be made for nomination day.

Nomination day is to be held five days after the date on which the election is announced and the election is to be held in a minimum of 16 days from that day, he said.

“It can’t be held. So, the first thing the Government should do today in the minister addressing this Parliament is to acknowledge that as a Government we are in breach of the law. And that cannot be right. The Government cannot be breaking its own law. It is wrong,” he asserted.

Further, he said had the Government announced the date for the election ahead of the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 3, it would have been able to postpone the election for 30 days.

“So what do we have here? The Government having breached the law, today, the day I believe when we go off on our summer recess, we see another rushed bit of legislation,” he said, adding that the Opposition was seeing the bill for the first time.

He called the move “chaka chaka” and said it was not only a disrespect of the Opposition but also of the institution of local government.

He said the residents of Morant Bay are in need of representation and more so now because of the passage of the hurricane.

He said putting off by 90 days the residents’ right to have a representative is “a disgrace and is unfair”.

But Bartlett fired back, arguing that it is not “normal times” in the country.

He said Paulwell was “totally ignorant” of the provisions of the law which allow for the amendment to be made for an election to be held within a reasonable time “in a situation where a mega event has reached the country”.

Bartlett’s argument comes against the backdrop of the holding of the general election in September 2020, six months into the height of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

“The member is not mindful of the fact that we just narrowly escaped the full blunt of a category four hurricane, the outer eyewall of which damaged the country,” he said, noting the disruption to the country’s electricity system and damage to schools islandwide.

“Everything does not have to be made into a political debate because one understands very clearly why the need for this amendment. The amendment happened because other situations may occur in the future other than this one…,” he said.

He said the time when the by-election could have been announced was overtaken by the passage of the hurricane.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com