(Excerpts of the Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Dr. Godwin Friday’s, Press Statement)
In June 2023, Mrs. Debroah Alexander-Charles was appointed to the position of Clerk of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The appointment has been condemned in many quarters for various reasons. Yet, the appointment remains in effect.
The appointment of Mrs Debroah Charles is in blatant disregard of the established practice and the constitutional requirement of the position of Clerk. I raised the matter during the last sitting of the House of Assembly, held at Calliaqua on 13th July. There, I objected to Mrs. Charles’ appointment to the position of Clerk of the House, as not being a suitable person to hold that position given the nature of the position and her political activism on behalf of the governing ULP.
I also informed the House that I had written to the Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC) stating my concerns and urging reconsideration of the decision to appoint her and the revoking of the appointment. The PSC is an independent body. I can’t tell them what to do, but as a concerned citizen, member of parliament and as Leader of the Opposition I am entitled to raise my concerns and say what I think ought to be done. I would not be doing my duty in those roles if I stayed silent on the matter.
This is not a personal attack on Mrs Charles as PM Gonsalves has tried to make it out to be, for e.g. in parliament two weeks ago. Why is this matter so important to all of us? We are a country of laws. Many people pay lip service to this requirement and frequently fail to act in a manner consistently with that sacred principle. Some of the worst offenders are in the present government.
First, it is important to note that the Clerk of the House of Assembly is a position required by the Constitution, the highest law of the land. Section 35 of the Constitution states that there “shall be a Clerk of the House”. It further states, “the office of the Clerk and the offices of the members of her staff shall be public offices.”
The appointment is done by the PSC and the holder of the office has a duty to be impartial in the performance of the duties of the office. To perform the duties appropriately the holder of this office must not only be impartial but must also appear to be so. The Clerk also has a critical role to play in one of the most important parliament acts under the Constitution, namely in the moving of a motion of No Confidence against the government.
When a motion of No confidence is moved in the House, the Speaker is required to see that the House meets and dispose of the motion. If the Speaker does not do so within twenty-one days, the Clerk has a duty to call a special meeting of the House at a time and place she says so that the motion could be debated and disposed of. [See s.47 (2). Remember that a motion of no confidence in the government, if it is passes, could result in the end of the government. So, it is critically important that where the Speaker fails to bring it on to be disposed of, the Clerk would act in accordance with the law and have the motion debated. This is a constitutional duty.
We know from fairly recent experience in our Parliament during the life of the ULP regime how the government can misinterpret and disregard the Constitution and the Standing Orders so as to prevent a motion of no confidence from being debated in Parliament. In such an important matter, we cannot have doubts about the impartiality and professionalism of the clerk; we cannot fear that political loyalty to the ruling party may impair her judgment and prevent her from doing his duty.
Debroah Charles is a political activist for the ULP! I use the present tense deliberately. We all know, she was a candidate for the ULP. In the last elections, 2020. She ran against Daniel Cummings in West Kingstown twice and lost twice. She is still the caretaker for the ULP in that seat, as no replacement has been declared. She sat in Parliament on the government side as a senator leading up to the last elections, a mere two and a half years ago. Yet, last month she was appointed to be Clerk of the House. Could she not find a less sensitive and critical position to hold following her electoral failure and termination as Senator?
When I raised the objection in the House, the Speaker was quick to praise the clerk’s diligence and professionalism. Clearly, she did not give much consideration to the objections I had raised. Nor did the Prime Minister, for that matter, as he sought to diminish the significance of the concerns I raised.
Clearly, she has remained a partisan ULP activist even after her appointment as Clerk. This is shameful! Rubbing salt into the wound so to speak, for even after I raised the objection Mrs Charles has continued to flaunt her ULP credentials and partisanship on social media. It brings the office of clerk into disrepute and undermines the integrity of the House of Assembly.
Her appointment as Clerk and continued activism for her party, the ULP, has the potential to undermine how the House functions and thus weaken our democratic processes. How can members of the opposition go to her for assistance in that position when she continues to campaign for the ULP? It is not reasonable to expect us to disregard Mrs. Charles’ recent roles and continued political activism in the ULP and now see her as an impartial Public Officer. The appointment puts the House in a bad light by casting a shadow of political partisanship over the office. It will have a negative impact on the work of the Opposition in the House.