Gov’t welcomes court ruling in favour of DPP job extension

The Government has welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal which affirmed that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn can remain in office.

This morning, the court ruled that the lower court was wrong to rule that one of the constitutional changes rushed through Parliament last year regarding retirement ages did not apply to Llewellyn.

Llewellyn is entitled to benefit from an increase in the retirement age, said Justice Jennifer Straw in handing down the highly-anticipated decision. 

In April, the Constitutional Court ruled that the amendment in the Constitution in July last year to raise the age of retirement for the DPP and the Auditor General from 60 to 65 was valid.

That aspect was called Section 2(1). 

However, the court struck down Section 2(2) of the amendment, which it said gave Llewellyn the power to elect to remain on the job. It declared the provision “unconstitutional”. 

The appeal court agreed with the lower court that the law was not passed for an "improper purpose" and that it was a valid amendment of the Constitution. 

But the court said Justices Sonya Wint-Blair, Simone Wolfe-Reece, and Justice Tricia Hutchinson Shelly "fell into error" in ruling that Section 2 (2) did not apply to Llewellyn because it allegedly gave her powers she did not have, that she had already benefited from an extension and that the approach to changing the law violated the consultation process between the prime minister and the opposition leader. 

Reacting to the ruling, Information Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon argued that Government has always acted within the law.

“We were always confident that our actions were not only lawful but good policy and in line with what obtains in several modern jurisdictions. It is very unfortunate that this issue was politicised,”

She stated that the Government has over the years, as a matter of policy, extended the retirement ages as it relates to several offices.

The passage of legislation concerning the ODPP and the AGD is a continuation of this policy, she noted.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.