Constitutional challenge brought against DPP
Published:Thursday | September 28, 2023 | 12:09 AMBarbara Gayle/Gleaner Writer
DOUBLE MURDER convict Mervin Cameron has launched a constitutional challenge to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn being granted approval to remain in office until she is 65.
Cameron filed a suit today in the Supreme Court and has named the Attorney General as the defendant.
He is contending that the amendment to the Constitution this year for the retirement age of the posts of DPP and the Auditor General to be 65, instead of 60, is not beneficial to Llewellyn, who had previously received a three-year extension under the Constitution prior to the amendment.
Cameron is seeking several declarations and is contending that the amendment to the Constitution is not retroactive.
The claimant, who is being represented by attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman, is seeking a declaration that the amendment is “of prospective as opposed to retroactive effect and does not give validity to Ms Paula Llewellyn remaining in office as director of public prosecutions beyond the 20th of September 2023”.
Llewellyn, who is the first woman to be appointed DPP in Jamaica, celebrated her 63rd birthday on September 21.
Cameron is also seeking a declaration that the purported appointment for Llewellyn to remain in office after midnight on September 20, 2023 is illegal, null and void and of no effect.
A declaration is being sought that the “purported appointment given to Ms. Paula Llewellyn to remain in office as Director of Public Prosecutions after midnight on 20th of September 2023, has resulted in Ms. Llewellyn being beholden to the political executive, resulting in the said appointment offending the separation of powers doctrine which is an integral feature of the Jamaica Constitution, rendering the said appointment, illegal, null and void and of no effect”.
Llewellyn was given a three-year extension in 2020 when she was 60 and, this month, she got a further extension to remain in office for another two years.
In the meantime, Member of Parliament Phillip Paulwell and Senator Peter Bunting are seeking declarations that Llewellyn should not remain in office beyond September 20, when her three-year extension ended. One of their contentions is that the amendment to the Constitution, which will allow Llewellyn to remain in office for an extra two years, was done for an improper purpose, and they are asking the court to declare the amendment null and void.
The Attorney General is the defendant and the hearing is set for November 20 in the Full Court.