Fullerton is prepared for court

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Parent Category: Aug 2011

Category: Week ending Aug 20th, 2011

Published on Sunday, 28 August 2011 18:04

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Embattled Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kenrick Fullerton is preparing for a showdown with government after being written to by Cabinet Secretary, Gemma Bain-Thomas on his status as a public officer.

Bain-Thomas has confirmed to the local media that she had sent a letter to Fullerton giving him ten days to clarify his position in light of an apparent conflict of interest with his work as a public officer and his recent acceptance of a high-ranking political post.

Bain-Thomas is contending that the NDC Chairman is in violation of the terms of his contract, which mandates him to follow the rules of the Public Service Commission (PSC), which puts a limit on one’s engagement with political parties. The Cabinet Secretary is said to be relying on legal advice submitted from the Solicitor-General on the Fullerton issue.

However, NDC insiders have told THE NEW TODAY that the party’s Chairman has sought his own legal advice from a city lawyer who was once a civil servant and would be conveying his position to the Cabinet Secretary this week. “The lawyer is saying to him (Fullerton) that he has a good case and should take the matter to court for determination”, one party member said.

He spoke of the Fullerton legal team planning to rely on a case from Antigua in which a judge had ruled in favour of a civil servant with political connections. Speculation is rife that Fullerton’s lawyer in his letter to the Cabinet Secretary asked a number of probing questions such as whether she was not aware that when he was offered the job that he was engaged in politics, was also a former NDC Member of Parliament, and a member of the party.

However, the source said there appears to be some division among the ranks of the NDC on Fullerton’s choice of lawyer. He stated that there are some pro-Fullerton executive members of Congress who felt that the Chairman should have sought the services of an alternative lawyer and not the one selected. Bain-Thomas has also acknowledged that she had written to two other NDC executive members who are holding contracts to work with the government similar to that of Fullerton.

She did not identify the members, however, an earlier report carried in this newspaper had identified them as Ralph Lord who is an employee with the St. George’s Market and Devon Romain who is attached to the Ministry of Tourism. he Public Workers Union (PWU), headed by Madonna Harford has already raised concerns about Fullerton’s status as a public officer while engaging in frontline politics.

Fullerton took over as NDC Chairman at the party’s annual convention on July 14 when he defeated the incumbent, Minister of State for Housing, Senator Glen Noel. The new NDC party Chairman currently holds the post of Policy Advisor in the Ministry of Sports.

Prior to the convention, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas met privately with Fullerton and tried to persuade him not to contest the post of Chairman of Congress in light of the fact that he was holding a position that subjected him to the rules of the PSC.

Former NDC Public Relations Officer, Vincent Roberts is known to have quit his contract with government to take up a position on the executive of the ruling party.

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