The Barbados Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the constitutional motion brought against Attorney General Dale Marshall challenging the composition of the Senate following the 2022 General Elections.The appellate panel comprising Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham and Justices Jefferson Cumberbatch and Rejendra Narine heard arguments on Thursday from counsel for respondent Marshall and claimant Adriel Brathwaite, a former Attorney General under the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).Through his attorney Garth Patterson, KC, Brathwaite is contending that when President Dame Sandra Mason convened Parliament, it was not properly constituted according to the Constitution which he argued requires 21 senators. Only 18 had been appointed at that time. “Here you have a situation where the Constitution says the President was required to appoint the senators as soon as [possible] after the election. She did not do so after 79 days, which is unprecedented. So the question is whether or not the President’s actions were in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” Patterson told Barbados TODAY at the end of the appeal hearing on Thursday.“So it is a case where we are saying the Government is not free to act outside of the Constitutional framework. If the Constitution says 21 it must mean something,” the senior counsel added.
