By COREY CONNELLY Saturday, September 26 2009

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WELL DONE: Senate Minority Leader Wade Mark (left) and UNC Senator Mohammed Faisal Rahman (second from right) offer their congratulations to their col...

OPPOSITION Senator Jennifer Jones-Kernahan went on the warpath yesterday as she took Attorney General John Jeremie to task for comments he made earlier this week about the Prime Minister’s right to veto key appointments of chief legal officers under the Constitution.

Delivering a passionate contribution to the Budget debate in the Senate, Jones-Kernahan regarded Jeremie’s remarks as that of a neo-nazi fascist, saying it had far-reaching implications for democratic governance in Trinidad and Tobago. She also said the AG was engaging in “mumbo jumbo” talk.

She recalled that Jeremie, in his contribution on Wednesday, noted the Prime Minister had the right to veto appointments of chief legal officers although they were constitutionally-protected.

Jeremie, she pointed out, had also said that although the Judicial and Legal Services Commission may appoint a person to a position, the person should not be appointed if the PM has an objection.

Jones-Kernahan said Jeremie highlighted the potential for the executive to interfere in legal matters. “So we want to thank the Attorney General for demonstrating the weakness of our Constitution, that in fact constitutionally-protected positions can be politically eradicated by a veto or the simple inaction in terms of the appointment of that person. They are constitutionally protected but they are politically eradicated,” she reasoned. uoting Hansard, Jones-Kernahan also waded into the AG for saying he was not in the country when the Prime Minister had exercised his veto in the appointment of a Director of Public Prosecutions and that “...we should all be cognisant of the fact that there should be a presumption that the Prime Minister will not act capriciously in making appointments to key executive positions.”

“So Mr Vice-President, we have the AG advising us that we should be cognisant of a fact, that there should be a presumption on our part that the Prime Minister would not act capriciously.

“Mr Vice President, I want to find out from the AG, what kind of neo-nazi, fascist supreme leader, mumbo jumbo talk is that in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009. Mr Vice President, how can the Attorney General tell us that we should presume that the Prime Minister would not act capriciously?

“Mr Vice President, we are free people and we are free to talk and we are free to think and we can come to any conclusion we like based on the track record especially of the Prime Minister,” Jones-Kernahan said.