Newly minted Attorney General Camille Robinson Regis is seeking to set the record straight, she says the appointment of Finance Minister, Senator Vishnu Dhanpaul was properly done.
She was responding to claims of the contrary made by one Political Analyst.
00:00The Attorney General tells the TV6 Morning Edition the appointment of
00:05Minister Danpole is sound. She explains that section 40 of the Constitution
00:11indicates that a senator is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime
00:16Minister, the advice of the leader of the opposition and under the President's own
00:20discretion. Senator Danpole was therefore under section 40 actually appointed by
00:29the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and when he took his oath at
00:34the President's house he was he took his oath as a senator and a minister and
00:41that is in accordance with section 40 of the Constitution. Political analyst Dr.
00:47Bishnu Raghunath on Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of the Finance Minister's
00:52appointment. The Constitution section 763 says categorically a minister must be a member of parliament. A minister must either be a senator or a member of the House of Representatives. Minister Danpole was never sworn in as a senator in the parliament.
01:20However AG Robinson Rages says Dr. Raghunath got it wrong. I think where
01:27Senator, where Mr. Raghunath is apparently giving misinformation is that he has
01:37perhaps not looked at section 57 of the Constitution and that section deals with
01:45the oath and in the Constitution it is said that you have to take your oath in
01:52the Senate and what that oath is for is for you to be able to participate in the
02:00House or in the Senate. She stressed the first appointment is through a
02:05notification to the President by the Prime Minister and that has been done
02:09adding that the second oath is to allow participation in Senate debates.
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