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Danville awaits fate
Outcome of Dabdoub/Vaz dual citizenship case could affect EOJ boss
ERICA VIRTUE, Observer writer
virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Director of elections Danville Walker (right) and chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Prof Errol Miller at yesterday's press conference of the ECJ in Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
DANVILLE Walker's future as Jamaica's director of elections could depend on the court's ruling in the dual citizenship case brought against West Portland member of parliament Daryl Vaz by his opponent and losing People's National Party candidate, Abe Dabdoub.
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), admitted at a press conference in Kingston yesterday, that the case could have an impact on the country's electoral boss, who has been credited with bringing credibility, respectability and autonomy to a once decrepit electoral system.
The commission will, in the meantime, be seeking validation from lawsuits against the electoral process, if in the past, members who sat on previous bodies held foreign citizenship.
ECJ chairman, Professor Errol Miller, said yesterday that members of the former Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), now the Electoral Commission, on which bodies the director of elections is an automatic member, must not have sworn allegiance to a foreign country - the same grounds on which Dabdoub is seeking to have Vaz disqualified as a member of the Lower House.
Miller said the error on the part of those approving the appointment could now have implications for past decisions, if validations were not granted against lawsuits.
"It would not simply be with respect to the director. It would apply to the EAC and the commission. If you didn't know about it, and certain things were done, you can validate. But once you know then the appropriate actions will have to be taken in going forward to comply with whatever the courts rule," Miller said.
Yesterday, former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member on the EAC, Ryan Peralto, said Professor Miller was right to seek validation.
"I believe that that is the correct way to go. I would not be too bothered that any decisions taken would have adversely affected anything, except maybe boundary cuts, and since some of the persons who could have been affected may still be in politics, the chairman is correct to seek protection," Peralto said.
Professor Miller suggested that the current body has already sifted through the citizenship status of more than 30 members who have served as chairmen, directors of elections, and board members since 1979.
Including among them are former EAC chairmen Professor Gladstone Mills, attorney-at-law William Chin See, and businessman Peter John Thwaites. Past directors of elections included C W Dundas, Major Winston Sutherland and Noel Lee.
Political representatives who have, or are serving on the EAC/ECJ, include Prime Minister Bruce Golding and former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Ronald Irvine, Dr D K Duncan, Errol Anderson, Ryan Peralto, Mavis Gilmour, Abe Dabdoub, Edmund Bartlett, Karl Samuda, Dr Paul Robertson, Dr Peter Phillips, Maxine Henry Wilson, Burchell Whiteman, Michael Peart, Donald Buchanan, Tom Tavares Finson, and Linton Walters.
"If certain things happened unwittingly with respect to holders of particular offices, there is a legal way to deal with that, and it is through the process of validation, and that is what we would have to do," Miller said.
He said, however, that until the courts rule the ECJ was not sure how to act. "So we need to get a definitive interpretation, because this matter has never been interpreted before." Miller told the Observer.
Highly-placed sources told the Observer that Walker was never asked about his citizenship when he was interviewed for, selected and appointed to the position of director of elections, a job he has held for more than 10 years.
Meanwhile, Professor Miller said campaign contributions, and increases to the number of constituencies would be among the major issues to be deliberated by the ECJ.
At present, there are 60 constituencies, but at least four have either more, or less than the number of registered voters.
Prof Miller said, too, that the removal of laws relating to the use of motor vehicles and horse drawn carriages during elections and the entrenchment of the commission in the constitution would be among the major agenda items to be discussed by the ECJ.
Outcome of Dabdoub/Vaz dual citizenship case could affect EOJ boss
ERICA VIRTUE, Observer writer
virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Director of elections Danville Walker (right) and chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Prof Errol Miller at yesterday's press conference of the ECJ in Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
DANVILLE Walker's future as Jamaica's director of elections could depend on the court's ruling in the dual citizenship case brought against West Portland member of parliament Daryl Vaz by his opponent and losing People's National Party candidate, Abe Dabdoub.
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), admitted at a press conference in Kingston yesterday, that the case could have an impact on the country's electoral boss, who has been credited with bringing credibility, respectability and autonomy to a once decrepit electoral system.
The commission will, in the meantime, be seeking validation from lawsuits against the electoral process, if in the past, members who sat on previous bodies held foreign citizenship.
ECJ chairman, Professor Errol Miller, said yesterday that members of the former Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), now the Electoral Commission, on which bodies the director of elections is an automatic member, must not have sworn allegiance to a foreign country - the same grounds on which Dabdoub is seeking to have Vaz disqualified as a member of the Lower House.
Miller said the error on the part of those approving the appointment could now have implications for past decisions, if validations were not granted against lawsuits.
"It would not simply be with respect to the director. It would apply to the EAC and the commission. If you didn't know about it, and certain things were done, you can validate. But once you know then the appropriate actions will have to be taken in going forward to comply with whatever the courts rule," Miller said.
Yesterday, former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member on the EAC, Ryan Peralto, said Professor Miller was right to seek validation.
"I believe that that is the correct way to go. I would not be too bothered that any decisions taken would have adversely affected anything, except maybe boundary cuts, and since some of the persons who could have been affected may still be in politics, the chairman is correct to seek protection," Peralto said.
Professor Miller suggested that the current body has already sifted through the citizenship status of more than 30 members who have served as chairmen, directors of elections, and board members since 1979.
Including among them are former EAC chairmen Professor Gladstone Mills, attorney-at-law William Chin See, and businessman Peter John Thwaites. Past directors of elections included C W Dundas, Major Winston Sutherland and Noel Lee.
Political representatives who have, or are serving on the EAC/ECJ, include Prime Minister Bruce Golding and former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Ronald Irvine, Dr D K Duncan, Errol Anderson, Ryan Peralto, Mavis Gilmour, Abe Dabdoub, Edmund Bartlett, Karl Samuda, Dr Paul Robertson, Dr Peter Phillips, Maxine Henry Wilson, Burchell Whiteman, Michael Peart, Donald Buchanan, Tom Tavares Finson, and Linton Walters.
"If certain things happened unwittingly with respect to holders of particular offices, there is a legal way to deal with that, and it is through the process of validation, and that is what we would have to do," Miller said.
He said, however, that until the courts rule the ECJ was not sure how to act. "So we need to get a definitive interpretation, because this matter has never been interpreted before." Miller told the Observer.
Highly-placed sources told the Observer that Walker was never asked about his citizenship when he was interviewed for, selected and appointed to the position of director of elections, a job he has held for more than 10 years.
Meanwhile, Professor Miller said campaign contributions, and increases to the number of constituencies would be among the major issues to be deliberated by the ECJ.
At present, there are 60 constituencies, but at least four have either more, or less than the number of registered voters.
Prof Miller said, too, that the removal of laws relating to the use of motor vehicles and horse drawn carriages during elections and the entrenchment of the commission in the constitution would be among the major agenda items to be discussed by the ECJ.
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