The Organisation of American States (OAS) is sending a high-level mission to Haiti this week.
The mission is expected to help the country work towards new elections after the devastating 12 January earthquake.
The six-member OAS delegation is being led by Assistant Secretary General, Albert Ramdin, and will visit Haiti from tomorrow to Saturday at the request of the Haitian government. The organisation says the mission will seek to engage the Haitian authorities and other important stakeholders in the country’s electoral agenda.
Legislative polls that were originally set for February and March were postponed after the earthquake demolished the capital, Port au Prince and killed more than 220,000 people.
Lawyer says Spencer should face by-election
A veteran Antiguan lawyer is suggesting that the three government members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, who have had their elections ruled invalid by a judge, should resign from the House of Representatives and face by-elections.
Lawyer Ralph Francis says there is precedence for such a move. He cites a 1989 case when six MPs of the then governing Antigua Labour Party opted to resign and face the polls again after a successful challenge by the late opposition candidate Donald Halstead.
Francis was one of the lawyers on the Halstead case.
He says Justice Louise Blenman’s ruling should be given effect and stand unless it is overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Major industrial unrest looming
A major showdown is looming in Jamaica between the government and some of the island’s public servants over unpaid salaries.
Three major groups: nurses, teachers and police officers are taking aim at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration of Prime Minister Bruce Golding because it has failed to honour agreements to settle claims made in the 2009/2010 contract period.
The government says it cannot foot the bill.
