The Keith Mitchell-led government has once again failed in its attempts to unseat opposition Member of Parliament, Peter David as the legitimate representative for the Town of St George.

 The Court of Appeal on Tuesday threw out an appeal that was filed on behalf of government against an earlier ruling by high court judge, Justice Kenneth Benjamin to throw out the matter.  thrown out.

The Court of Appeal ruled that there was no appeal before it  since the Attorney General and legal adviser to Cabinet, Jamaican Hugh Wildman refused to follow the procedures as laid down in rule 62 (2) of the Civil procedure rules 2000.

 The court pointed out that as a consequence of the State's failure to follow those rules, it rendered the application null and void  and there was really nothing before the appeal justices. The Court of Appeal again awarded cost in the amount of $5,000.00 to David, bringing the total cost awarded to him in cost to $18,000.00.

The Mitchell government is trying to unseat David who defeated Tourism Minister, Senator Brenda Hood in the 2003 general election on the grounds that he holds dual citizenship - Grenada and Canada.

Outspoken Barrister-at-Law, Anslem Clouden, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that the finances of the country continue to hemorrhage as a result of the unprecedented squander of money by the Mitchell administration. Leader of David's defense team, Dr Francis Alexis who also attended the press conference said that the Attorney General proceeded on the wrong basis that the main judgement delivered by Justice Benjamin was not a final judgement.

Alexis, a former Attorney-General himself in the 1990's, stated that rather than file a substantive appeal before the court, the State applied for leave to appeal. He said the defense team gave government's side due notice that there was no appeal before the court and credited his colleague, Ruggles Ferguson for the strategy.
Alexis pointed out that Ferguson took that point from early in the proceedings and ran with it al the way to the Court of Appeal and succeeded with the argument.

According to Alexis, it is clear that the government side does not study the constitution and the law and merely concerned with "just filing paper and not taking care to consider what they doing". "...So they came to court (Court of Appeal) and attempted to show that they had filed an appeal -  and let us be very clear that when their QC from Jamaica (R.N Henriques) realised that what we were saying is correct he virtually just conceded", said Dr. Alexis.

He noted that Special Advisor to Cabinet, Jamaican Hugh Wildman was openly seen in court pushing Henriques to continue saying that there was an appeal, but when it became clear to the QC that what Ferguson was telling the court was correct he just threw in the towel right there in the open.

The noted constitutional lawyer said that David's defense team of lawyers are ready and prepared for anything and is always a step ahead at every stage in the matter. "What next they will do, we are prepared to wait and see and respond to them", he remarked.

An elated David expressed heartfelt thanks to his legal team on behalf of himself and the people of the Town of St. George. He said the constituency continues to stand firmly behind him and it is becoming clearer each passing day that the issue in the court is more about political victimisation.

"The fact is this is the fourth time we've gone to court. It's the fourth time we've won and from all indications listening to Mr Wildman and his team, this is not the end of it", he added. David reiterated a call made by his colleagues for the government to bring the matter to an end in the interest of the taxpayers of the country who are footing the bill.

He said that the people of the Town of St George spoke in 2003 and he was equally confident that when they get the opportunity to speak again he will be their parliamentary representative.

He said that money is badly needed to do a lot of work within his constituency such as reconstruction of homes and suggested that the monies being used by government to finance legal action against him should be used for those purposes.