UPP Prepared to Go to Court If Speaker Fails to Accept Shugy’s Resignation

The main Opposition United Progressive Party is threatening legal action if the Speaker House of Assembly Sir Gerald Watt KC insists that he will not accept the resignation of St Mary’s South MP Kelvin “Shugy” Simon.

Attorney-at-law and former UPP Political Leader Harold Lovell said this will be the natural course of action as the clock is ticking on the 120 days for the government to call a by-election.

“The Speaker is out of order and if we do not get him to change his mind we will challenge it in court, but he can save us the trouble by simply admitting he was wrong.

“In our books, the clock started to run when the resignation was received by him, the clock started to run and it is 120 days from that day,” Lovell said while addressing a Townhall meeting Thursday night.

Simon resigned weeks ago citing that the court case challenging his nomination as a political candidate has the potential to be dragged on for another 12 months and the uncertainty was unfair to his constituents.

However, Sir Gerald rejected the letter after indicating that it did not conform with specific provisions of the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda.

Simon has since penned a second letter requesting that the House Speaker reconsider his position.

In it, the veteran educator said he was advised his original letter was in order and took effect the day it was received. The House Speaker has not yet responded to the second missive.

Meantime, Simon told his constituents that the uncertainty of the case is blocking upcoming projects in the area.

He explained that several individuals have signaled their full support as long as he remains MP.

Among his plans is the construction of a vocational-type facility like the Antigua and Barbuda International Institute of Continuing Education to provide vocational qualifications for youngsters in the community, ensure those who are eligible are able to benefit from some level of tertiary education, and the creation of a proper sports program.

“People do not want to invest with uncertainties, so that is one of the reasons I decided to tender my resignation so that we can have a clean break and go back to the polls and beat Samantha Marshall even more convincingly and just put this entire thing to rest,” Simon said.