The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

Democratic National Alliance Marathon candidate Emily Williams has urged voters not to re-elect current MP Jerome Fitzgerald given his controversial track record with the Rubis Gas Leak and his most recent legal woes stemming from the disclosure of private emails in parliament which saw him fined $150,000 by a Supreme Court judge.

The Democratic National Alliance’s spokesperson for culture questioned how far parliamentarians should be allowed to go in the exercising of their parliamentary privilege to speak on matters in the House of Assembly, in a press statement.

“Mr. Fitzgerald has been in a court battle concerning the reading of private emails of members of Save the Bays in the House of Assembly” she said.

“He insisted that because of Parliamentary privilege, he can read as much private emails as he likes. I know that some may tend to disagree, but my issue with this whole ‘reading of private emails’ situation is, how far should politicians be allowed to go in the House of Assembly?”

Ms Williams said: “Again, it is not the principle of the matter I am dealing with, but rather, the arrogance and bad attitude of Mr. Fitzgerald. Where is this man from? Is he ever wrong about anything, or is it too hard for him to ever say sorry? Sorry seems to be the hardest word!”

Last week, Justice Indra Charles in her ruling found that Mr Fitzgerald’s actions in acquiring, disclosing and releasing specifically Save The Bays internal emails were not legally justified and therefore could not be protected by parliamentary privilege.

As a result, she ordered that he pay $150,000 in damages for the breach and barred him from any further disclosures or publications of information belonging to the Save The Bays organisation.

Mr Fitzgerald was also ordered to delete all materials in his possession within 14 days.

A stay of her entire decision was granted by the Supreme Court; however, the “status quo” was maintained pending a hearing and determination of an appeal.

Ms Williams’ statement on Thursday attacked Mr Fitzgerald’s apparent arrogance and refusal “to admit” when he is wrong.

“When a representative of any constituency proves to be so arrogant that he/she cannot admit they are wrong, it is time to bow out gracefully and give it up!” she said.

“The Honourable Jerome Fitzgerald has lost all credibility to lead the constituency in which I reside, because, in my opinion, he has proven to be unfit to represent anyone. Strike one was his arrogance and shameless attitude towards the residents of Marathon concerning the Rubis Gas Leak.”

Ms Williams said: “Mr. Fitzgerald had a whole year to let the people who voted him in know that their own lives were at risk, and that all who live in the surrounding area should have been made aware that they could actually die because of it. There were strange occurrences of residents becoming very ill, and some even died, which led to many suspecting that it was because of the gas that found its way into the homes of residents.”

In May 2015, the government appointed retired Justice Joseph Strachan to conduct a “thorough” independent review into the cause of the delay in the release of an independent report on the ramifications of the 2012 Rubis gas leak. The results of that review have not been released.