Pressure mounts on opposition MPs to pay costs after losing court case

The eight Members of Parliament (MPs) who were suspended after they were involved in the parliamentary disruptions resulting in the seizure of the Speaker’s Mace have been asked to pay the overdue costs from their Court case.

The opposition MPs who were suspended were Annette Ferguson, Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Sherod Duncan, Maureen Philadelphia and Natasha Singh-Lewis.

And they were ordered to pay costs to the respondents in the sum of $350, 000 each by February 06, 2023. The respondents are the Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir and Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs.

A release from local law firm Gunraj and Co., however, noted that those Parliamentarians have so far failed to pay those respondents.

“In the circumstances, we are instructed to demand, as we hereby do, that they said costs be paid within 14 (fourteen) days hereof, failing which our clients will institute proceedings to recover the same without further notice to you,” attorney Sase Gunraj wrote to each of the MPs.

Additionally, trade unionist Norris Whitter and Jones were ordered to pay $250,000 in costs on or before July 19, 2023 after the High Court dismissed the legal challenge mounted against the validity of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act and in effect, found that the Bill was indeed passed in the National Assembly on December 29, 2021.