UDP writes GG onSen. Montejo’s appointment

Black Immigrant Daily News

BELIZE CITY, Fri. July 8, 2022Today, UDP Chairman Michael Peyrefitte informed the public that the party has sent a letter to the Governor-General, Dame Froyla Tzalam, in which they formally call for PUP senator Collet Montejo to vacate his Senate seat. The party is asserting that he was disqualified from sitting in the upper house after having taken an appointment as the Field Supervisor on the Re-districting Task Force – a key national role that he alone will be occupying. The Minister of Public Service and Constitutional Reform, Henry Charles Usher, said late last month that, based on his interpretation of the law, Senator Montejo’s appointment is permissible. The Governor-General thus finds herself caught between two conflicting legal interpretations—one being offered by the current administration, and the other by the Opposition.“In essence, I’m asking the Governor General to make a call to the Prime Minister and say, ‘Prime Minister, this particular senator that you asked me to appoint is acting contrary to the Constitution of the country. I am asking you, Sir, to please replace that senator with somebody else.’ If the Governor General cannot get that done, then our options are open. If he says, ‘Look, I am no longer taking or accepting that position with the Elections and Boundaries Commission, I will not be the supervisor for the re-districting process,’ then my argument is over, then he can remain in the Senate. But he has to give up one of them, he cannot keep both,” Peyrefitte said during a recent interview.The UDP chairman reiterated today while being interviewed that the Constitution makes it clear that he must vacate his seat, since his responsibility will involve directly the revision of the new electoral list.“He is a member of the Senate and Section 63 of the Constitution is very clear. It says that a person has to vacate his or her seat if they act in any office that: one, has any response that involves any responsibility for or in connection with the conduct of any election; or two: any responsibility, and this is the critical part, F2, any responsibility for the compilation or revision of any electoral register,” Senator Peyrefitte said. In an interview in late June, however, Minister Henry Charles Usher had stated that, in his layman’s view, Senator Montejo’s appointment is acceptable. “Mr. Montejo is not in charge of elections; he is not revising any election list. He is merely a technical part of a task force appointed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, so, in my layman reading, I don’t see it as being a conflict,” he had said.A press release issued on June 9 said Montejo would be responsible for all fieldwork involved in the gathering and providing of information regarding the various features of each constituency – including, among other things, “the distribution of the population across the various divisions in accordance with section 90(2) of the Constitution.”UDP Chairman Peyrefitte, however, has pointed out that Montejo is the only person appointed to carry out this key task and will be in a key role in the compilation of the register, exactly what the provision is aimed at preventing.He explained, “So when you decide that you are going to be a key person in the re-districting of constituencies and electoral offices, you are essentially going to determine how the register is compiled. Honorable Collet Montejo will be in a key position to tell you how many people remain in Lake-I, how many people remain in Collet, how many people will remain in Albert, or whether or not they will combine divisions. That’s a key, key role, and what the Constitution envisages is that members of the Parliament should stay away from the conduct of elections or having anything to do with the compilation of registers or the determination of voters lists or anything of the sort.”He lamented the fact that the only field supervisor appointed by the task force for the entire country happens to be the Deputy Secretary-General of the PUP, Montejo, and says he took no pleasure in bringing the Governor General into the situation.“It gives me no pleasure to write a letter like that, but as the Opposition, we have a responsibility to make sure that the government upholds the law and follows the law, especially the constitution of the country. Now you have a situation where there is only one field supervisor that’s going to be appointed for the redistricting exercise that the country is going through. Now it is bad enough that the country decided to choose the Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s United Party to be the field supervisor. You can’t tell me that there are other people who cannot do that job in a professional manner without even being questioned as to whether or not there is any political bias,” Peyrefitte said.He is calling on the PUP to select an appointee for the role who is not so extensively tied to any political party, or for Montejo to resign if he indeed goes on to fill that key role. “What the Constitution envisages is that members of the National Assembly should stay away from the conduct of elections or having anything to do with the compilation of registers, determination of voters list of anything of the sort, so like I said, it is bad enough that he is the Deputy Secretary-General of the PUP. It is unconstitutional what they are doing and they need to pick someone who does not have any of those connections, and we are saying that if he insists on taking that job, if he insists on taking that position then he needs to resign from the Senate,” he said.

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