That contentious "Portmore parish law"

By Gordon Robinson

A plethora of political gigs have been spinning since PNP filed a lawsuit attacking the Act passed to make Portmore Jamaica’s 15^th Parish.

So it’s up to us to make sense from nonsense and decipher what really happened. It’s always best to lead with fact. Nobody won anything.

Let’s recap.

Government decided to make Portmore a Parish. The Opposition alleged this was creative gerrymandering so Constituency boundaries would have to change to favour JLP’s electoral chances. But, instead of taking a mature approach, PNP threw a tantrum; tossed its toys out of the pram; and threatened to repeal any Parish creating Act if PNP won the next election.

On this programme, on the twoth of March (Old BC’s 43^rd wedding anniversary btw) I told listeners that Government’s political anxiety led to putting the cart before the horse. It should’ve asked ECJ to make constituency boundary changes rather than bullying ECJ by passing the law. I also advised that proper PNP reaction would’ve been to take the matter to court. That same night Tony Hylton announced at a party gathering that PNP would do exactly that. After the Bill was passed PNP sued.

Then a tornado of political gig spinning began. PNP claimed victory when a temporary injunction was granted blocking Government from bringing the Act into force until the matter was tried. But that order was inevitable. Temporary injunctions don’t decide rights and wrongs. They simply maintain the status quo until a court can make a final decision. And they are only ordered in cases where damages can’t compensate for the inconvenience suffered if the injunction isn’t granted and the Claimant eventually wins.

This was never a case about money. The injunction was a formality.

At the end of the day the injunction was NOT “lifted”. It expired and needed no extension because the parties consented to an order that simply restored reality to what had become pantomime.

The actual Court order recorded:

“The defendants (i.e. Attorney General and Local Government Minister) give an unequivocal undertaking not to appoint a day for the Counties and Parishes (Amendment) Act, 2025, to come into operation until the procedure prescribed in Section 67 of the Constitution has been complied with and an order is made under Section 67 of the Constitution.”

So the correct batting order has been belatedly restored. Opener ECJ faces the first ball by considering whether boundaries should change based solely on Government’s new Parish policy. If yes, then boundaries change and afterwards the Parish Law is brought into effect.

Of course, there’s some discomfort that Government’s parliamentary machinations may have left ECJ with Hobson’s Choice. We’ll never know how ECJ would’ve decided had it been allowed to perform its statutory function without legislative harassment.

For now sanity has been restored and all’s well with the electoral world. Or is it? The process for boundary change begins with ECJ’s independent “review” of boundaries [section 6(j); Electoral Commission Act] then report to the Parliamentary Standing Committee under the Constitution section 67 followed by Standing Committee’s gazetted notice to the Minister. Then a draft boundary change order by GG must be tabled for parliamentary approval. THEN a GG Proclamation appointing the effective day is made.  

Can all this be rammed through before election? Will Government throw caution (not to mention pretense of care for Portmore residents) to the wind and effect boundary changes anyway? Will ECJ be intimidated into a swift recommendation without observing standards of procedural fairness or rules of Natural Justice as mandated by the Electoral Commission Act?

We shall see…..

The audio version of this commentary by attorney-at-law Gordon Robinson was aired on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap on Sunday.