State withdraws stay application in court

The National National

By GIDEON KINDIWA
THE Supreme Court has allowed the State to withdraw its application to stay the Opposition’s vote-of-no-confidence motion because it has been withdrawn in Parliament.
Justice Minister and Attorney-General Alfred Manase had filed the stay application last week.
His lawyers John Griffin QC and Tiffany Twivey yesterday asked court to adjourn the hearing of the stay application to May 29 in anticipation of the filing of another motion by the Opposition.
But the court refused saying Manase had no evidence that the motion would be brought back.
A three-man bench consisting of Justice Derek Hartshorn, Justice Colin Makail and Justice Oagile Bethuel Dingake ruled that Manase’s evidence in his affidavit was “speculative” and failed to provide facts showing that the motion of no-confidence would be filed again by the Opposition.
Manase sought the adjournment because:

  • He wanted to amend the stay application; and,
  • There was lack of information about the withdrawal of the motion which might be brought back by the Opposition. Speaker Job Pomat’s lawyer Ron Webb also supported the adjournment.

But Parliament Clerk’s lawyer Rudolph Lains objected, saying there was “nothing to be stayed” so “there is nothing for the court to adjourn on”.
Justice Makail questioned what the adjournment of the stay application had to do with parliamentary processes and the reference.
“What is the status of the reference? Get to the substantive matter (reference) and later deal with the interlocutory matters such as the stay application and adjournment,” he said.
“Why should the court adjourn just to wait for Parliament? The court cannot just step in on parliamentary processes.”
Justice Dingake explained that there was a separation of powers among the three arms of government.
“It is a difficult thing to deal with. The court is ill-equipped to enter that arena. There’s a separation of powers and if the court interferes, it’s like walking on hands.”
Griffin then applied to withdraw the stay application.