No evidence gov’t pressed AG about sacking statutory board members

Premier Andrew Fahie has told the Commission of Inquiry (COI) that before getting rid of all statutory board members appointed under the previous government, he and his Cabinet ministers extensively grilled former Attorney General (AG) Baba Aziz on whether it was lawful to do so. He said Cabinet went ahead with the removal exercise since the AG did not give a definitive response. But based on the minutes from the Cabinet meeting about those discussions, there was little, if any evidence at all, to show that the issue saw robust consultation with the AG, the COI heard.

“You started off saying that the Attorney General was pressed by the Cabinet as to whether the policy … was unlawful,” Rawat said while addressing the Premier during his appearance before the COI yesterday, Tuesday, September 14.

“Premier, your evidence was that the Cabinet – not just yourself, all five members of the Cabinet – pressed the Attorney General for clarity. I would just like you to point the Commissioner’s attention to where you did that.”

In response, the Premier said the Cabinet papers were in no way reflective of the exhaustive consultations that were had in relation to the government’s new policy.

“This is one of the things I need to make clear,” the Premier began. “In a Cabinet meeting, the gist of the conversations is what’s captured. But there’s so much more that’s discussed that is not inside of these [Cabinet papers],” Premier Fahie said.

“So, there was a long discussion on ‘are we acting lawful or unlawful’.”

The Premier then proceeded to read a section from the Cabinet minutes where the governor, who is chairman of Cabinet, stated that a reasonable justification should be given to remove board members.

“The Attorney General didn’t respond just like that,” the Premier then said. “The chairman, after he said that; my recollection was there was some discussions about it. Now, we would not capture all of that in the minutes.”