At present, Mr. John Benjamin, QC, Founder and CEO of Caribbean Juris Chambers in Anguilla, is the recently-appointed Chairman of the Anguilla Summer Festival – now approaching its highest momentum not only here on the island, but in the neighbouring islands as well.
Chief among those islands, where the excitement is rapidly building up, is the half-French, half-Dutch, territory of St. Martin/St. Maarten which sees Anguilla’s festival, particularly the August Monday Beach Party, as an attractive event for its own people as well. Wait and see the large flotilla of yachts and other pleasure boats, and the hundreds of visitors from the twin island, crowding Road Bay for the colossal occasion that will confirm this.
For Mr. Benjamin, and his large organising committee, it is a Herculean task preparing for the island’s packed programme, of carnival activities, grouped under the all-embracing title of the Anguilla Summer Festival. The celebration really has its historic links with the abolition of slavery which our forebears endured, and the freedom they eventually experienced.
Mr. Benjamin is not a newcomer to the culture of carnival, having previously served with distinction in this capacity in Anguilla. For the next two years, he also brings to the event a good deal of experience having been a promoter of festivals in Birmingham, England, and a founding member of the Notting Hill Carnival in West London.
But while Mr. Benjamin has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a carnival organiser, behind the fun, ecstasy and merriment he promotes is his separate record as a successful and longstanding jurist – not to mention his other side as a popular talk show host. In fact, it is his past acclaimed radio Talk Your Mind case, won at a Privy Council hearing in London, that is highly regarded as a landmark case – used occasionally for determining aspects of freedom of expression in some court issues regionally and internationally. The judgment in this case has been referred to in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Antigua and, more recently, in Nevis in an Election Petition relating to equal opportunity to speak on a radio station.
Mr. Benjamin, an Additional Magistrate in Anguilla for many years, has served as an Acting Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in Montserrat, Nevis and St. Kitts during separate periods in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
It was during his tenure on the Bench in St. Kitts in February 2013 that he presided over an application brought by Members of Parliament, Sam Condor and Shawn Richards. They were contesting the then Government’s decision to appoint a number of senators allegedly aimed at defeating a motion of no confidence which was sent to the Speaker by the Opposition, but which had never been tabled in the legislature.
Mr. Benjamin granted the declarations sought by the respondents (who were the claimants in the court below). He declared that the appointment of a 4th senator by the then Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister or whosoever, was a contravention of section 26 (1) and (2) of the Saint Christopher and Nevis Constitution Order 1983 and that the said appointment was “null, void and of no effect”.
Secondly, Mr. Benjamin granted a declaration that the appointment of a named person as Attorney General was contrary to section 52 (4) of the Constitution and was “invalid, null and void and of no effect”.
A third declaration made by Mr. Benjamin was that the Senators (Increase of Number) Act, 2013 was “unconstitutional and/or invalid as being in contravention of sections 26 and 41 of the Constitution”.
The St. Kitts Government, headed at the time by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas, appealed against the rulings – to the Eastern Caribbean Court in its Appellate Jurisdiction – in April 2013 and sought to have the Judge’s orders set side. The appeal matters continued through 2014 and were concluded in April 2015 when Mr. Benjamin’s judgment was upheld by Justices of Appeal Mario Michel, Davidson Kelvin Baptiste and Louise Esther Blenman. In delivering the Appeal Court’s judgment, with the concurrence of his colleagues, Justice Michel stated: “In accordance with my findings…I would dismiss the appeal and affirm the findings of the learned trial judge [Mr. Benjamin].”
Readers wishing to see the full text of the Appeal Court’s judgment can find it on the Court’s website in the section providing information on recent judgments.
The outcome of the case has resulted in much commendation for Mr. Benjamin’s from colleagues both in Anguilla and St. Kitts. It is another case which may very well serve as a reference for similar matters coming before the courts later on.
“It is something you don’t worry about as a Judge because you make your decision and you feel right about the judgment you made,” Mr. Benjamin told The Anguillian. “It gives you a good feeling when all your fellow Judges, at a higher level, and others, said that you did the right thing. I saw an opinion from Sir Fred Phillips, who has now passed on, a copy of which was sent to me by Mr. Dwyer Astaphan after he read my judgment. He told me: ‘John, your judgment is a sound judgment because Sir Fred Phillips had warned the Government that the appointment of the Attorney General was not in accordance with the Constitution.’”
Asked what the crux of the overall case was about, Mr. Benjamin replied: “They tried to appoint some senators because there was the issue about the Government not wanting to go to the House of Assembly to deal with the no confidence issue. When you listened to all of the arguments, it seems that it was an attempt to avoid that…I was ensuring that members of the Assembly comply with the Constitution because nobody is above the law, and that is what I was imparting to the House and the public at large.”
Mr. Benjamin, who presided over other important cases in St. Kitts and Nevis, including an Election Petition in the latter island, was asked whether he would serve again as a High Court Judge.
“I am still on the rota as a High Court Judge,” he replied. “I have indicated to the Chief Justice that, because of my commitments in Anguilla, I really do not want to go down south [to the southern islands]. I would go back to Nevis, Montserrat or even to Antigua, but not down south because of the journey there and the [difficult] issue of airline flights. I don’t want to go through that. Several times I got stuck in Antigua either because LIAT was late or the connections to Montserrat were not there. So there are some issues with travelling that I want to avoid.”
Mr. Benjamin also has another important and personal reason for wanting to stay in Anguilla or as close to the island as possible. “My son is soon going to Grade 3 and my being around is important for him,” he stressed. Indeed, he is frequently seen travelling at various daylight functions [and to school] dutifully holding his son’s hand – the latest appearance being at the Solaire Cup Boat Race at Meads Bay on Sunday, July 19.
Right now, too, and most respectfully, Mr. Benjamin cannot accept an appointment anywhere as a High Court Judge if his services were needed for some routine or unusual reason. He is far too busy as Chairman of the Anguilla Summer Festival, at a peak social, cultural and exciting time, and so his presence is sorely needed at home.
