The response of the Team of Lawyers of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) to a request from the party’s former Chairperson, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, for their legal advice on the procedure followed in incorporating the proposed amendments of their Framework Document and other matters has finally come to public glare, but with a vacuum for the public to decide whether or not Alexander Cummings is guilty as accused or is free from the allegations.
In their response letter to former Chairperson Karnga-Lawrence, dated October 14, 2021, the Team of Lawyers said, “On behalf of the Team of Laywers, we hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 12, 2021 requesting our legal advice on the following: the procedure that was followed in incorporating the proposed amendments in the FD and submitting same to the NEC; the effect of abstracting the signature page from the original FD signed on May 19, 2020 by the four political leaders and attaching same to the final document without their approval, express or implied, and submitting same to NEC; whether the proposed amendment made by the lawyers was change without their consent; and any other issue of legal significance that needs to be addressed by the NAC.”
According to the lawyers’ response, “while noting your request, we would like to state the following: we were invited by the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) as a team of lawyers and requested to review the Framework Document as concluded by the four political parties (ALP, ANC, LP & UP); we were informed that the Framework Document reflected the will of the parties to form a collaboration but wanted to endure that the Framework Document complies with full legal prescriptions, both in terms of substance and structure; upon review of the said document, we made a number of revisions, both in substance and structure, and the Framework Document as revised was presented at a meeting convened for that purpose and attended by the leadership of the four political parties; and upon submission to the leadership of the parties and to date we have had no interactions with the said document.”
According to the lawyers, they voluntarily agreed to support a process as part of their patriotic commitment to their country, and did so knowing that their contribution will assist in reconciling and engendering an environment for better collaboration and coordination.
“We note with concern, however, that the issues raised in your letter of October 12, 2021 and upon which we are requested to opine have become the subject of intense internal and external discussions over the past several weeks. This has rendered the process overwhelmingly political, thereby marginalizing the efficacy and effect of the Framework Document. Under these circumstances, we find it extremely difficult to advice on the issues presented to us.
“Notwithstanding, may we remind you that there are risks associated with the unceasing public engagements on this matter. Accordingly, we advise that some form of collective restraint is put in place and that the political leaders urgently exert efforts to bring closure to this matter,” the CPP Team of Lawyers responded to Senator Karnga-Lawrence’s inquisitiveness
The lawyers’ response neither indict nor vindicate the Standard Bearer of the ANC, Cummings; rather, refused to provide the advice sought for by the former Chairperson due to the heightened political tension of the matter. However, their letter inculcates a number of issues raised by both Benoni Urey and Alexander Cummings.
According to Cummings’ argument, the Framework Document was reviewed and amended, in parts, by the Team of Lawyers, which the lawyers alluded to in their response. Cummings also argued that the amendment of the lawyers was presented to all the four political leaders in a meeting, and this was also confirmed by the lawyers’ response.
On the other hand, Urey’s accusation against Cummings is that, after the lawyers reviewed, amended and submitted the Framework Document to them, Cummings made additional inputs in the document before submitting same to the National Elections Commission (NEC), rending the document different from the one agreed to by all the parties. One such proof, he claimed, was the numbering of the articles. According to him, the lawyers numbering was in Roman numbers, but the final document presented to the NEC is in real numbers, and that Cummings had no authority to do so.
With these two sides of the debate, the public is left to judge whether Senator Karnga-Lawrence was right to hand down a guilty verdict against Cummings or Cummings should be granted an apology as he requested.