Only now by-election preparation process can begin
by Bennette Roach
Former Chief Minister and until two years ago Premier, Reuben T Meade, announcing to his Movement for Change and Prosperity party that he was going to retire from ‘active elected politics’. He however only made the retirement official when the Governor’s office advised in a press release that “Her excellency Governor Carriere has received a retirement from the Legislature letter from Reuben T. Meade today, November 2, 2016.”
That brought an end to the suspense following his announcement of such to his party two weeks age and at the recent sitting of the Legislative Assembly last Tuesday, October 25.
The former premier of just two years ago and now immediate past leader of the opposition in the Government of Montserrat said in his announcements that he has had enough of being the subject at meetings of the Assembly which he says cannot be the way to conduct government’s business.
Listen to Meade’s retirement announcement to the party here:
Reuben T. Meade, retires after 25 years, was the longest serving Legislator alive
It is not known whether Mr. Meade was aware that under the new 2010 Constitution that announcement of vacating his seat or retirement from the Assembly in the Assembly was reserved only to the Speaker and deputy Speaker but that, among other circumstances, “An elected member of the Legislative Assembly shall also vacate his or her seat in the Assembly— “3. (a) if he or she resigns it by writing under his or her hand addressed to and received by the Governor;”
It is a way of the former Premier’s to defy some rules and protocols that he thinks somehow demeans some authority that should rest with subjects of Montserrat.
Few might have suspected this action of vacating his seat in the Legislature, even remembering that he had promised to do so back in 2001 when at the first sitting of the Legislature he said he would and proposed then that Mrs. Roselyn Cassell-Sealy would take over to being the first woman Chief Minister in Montserrat. Much, some not so good things, have happened politically even though the lady had come close to leading the new MCAP to victory in the 2006 elections. In fact it was then that Dr. Lowel Lewis with the support of the NPLM party took over the reins of what was seen as another coalition.
The Governor’s office in the press release, showing perhaps the suspicion that Meade waited to send his letter to the Acting Governor, Mrs. Francis, states: “ Her Excellency the Acting Governor, Mrs Sarita Francis, has received from the Hon. Leader of the Opposition, Mr Reuben T Meade, notice of his retirement from the Legislative Assembly in accordance with the Montserrat Constitution Order. She has acknowledged this notice. H.E. the Governor, Elizabeth Carriere, who is currently off island on business, wishes to make the following statement.”
The release then goes on to state: “Mr Meade has informed the Acting Governor that he is retiring from elected politics after 25 years’ unbroken service as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Montserrat. As all Montserratians know, Mr Meade served as Chief Minister and then as Premier at critical times in Montserrat’s history. Although I have only known Mr Meade for a short time in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, I know that his service to Montserrat goes beyond those 25 years and wider than his service in the Legislative Assembly. I wish Mr Meade every happiness and success in his future endeavours.”
In a ZJB report just under a month prior to Meade’s announcement, he had announced that he had no intention to lead any action to overthrow or replace the PDM government in office except in a general election, which of course he will be quite free to enter as a candidate for election. He at the same time called on the Government to organize a group to discuss frankly ways of moving the country forward economically.
Listen:
Meade shows plans for Little Bay and Carrs Bay Development to MP Simmonds and Browne in the UK
As potential legislators including past legislators now can prepare for a by-election there seems to be disarray though denied by the potential new leader of MCAP. Some four persons have announced their intention to contest for the seat.
Since Meade’s earliest announcement which the discerning might realise listening to him, he had indeed been giving thought to his resignation pommeled most believe, though he makes out to believe otherwise, by his loss of a High Court case in which he sought among other things in a ‘Fixed Claim’, payment of pension at the rate of “some $12,750.87 per month,” which “is greater than his entitled emoluments as Legislator. The gross salary as Legislator is $9,583.00 per month.”
Conceding that “due to the fact that at the time prescribed for computation of the commuted gratuity, the claimant having been re-elected (September 2014) to the Legislative Assembly had therefore not ceased to be a Legislator, the payment to the claimant of the commuted gratuity was made in error;” the Attorney General’s office argued that, “although the Premier’s pension would be payable to the Claimant when he ceases to be a Legislator, given the fact that he is currently a serving Legislator, the Claimant would only be entitled to the basic allowance paid to the Leader of the Opposition.”
The judge accepted that argument supported by the law and dismissed the claims, acknowledging that there might be reasons to look at the “Legislators Condition Service Act Cap 1.05.
