The need for Constitutional Reform has once again raised its head in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. And GRENADA TODAY is not talking about the exercise in futility that recently took place under a commission that was appointed by the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.

Our concern is about reform that promotes good government, accountability in public office and ensures that the public purse is afforded greater protection and security from any bad government that happens to get into office.

Never before in the history of this country has the taxpayer been asked to pay the kinds of millions of dollars in lost court cases by a sitting administration as can be witnessed at the moment under this NNP regime. The figure is growing daily for all of us in this country under the Mitchell government.

This cannot be disputed given the ruling in the Dipcon multi-million dollar judgement against the State for breach of contract. The EC$10, 000 that was awarded in cost to Member of Parliament for the Town of St. George, Peter David in the Canadian citizenship issue in the high court on Tuesday is another cost to taxpayers.

This newspaper is making a plea to Mr. David to donate this money that he would be getting from the taxpayers to a worthy public institution in some part of the country, most likely in his own constituency. The judgement from High Court Judge, Justice Kenneth Benjamin has brought to the fore the need for constitutional reform to protect the taxpayers' purse from politicians who engaged in political games at the expense of the Public purse.

The law needs to be changed as quickly as possible to put mechanisms in place that would make it mandatory on those holding the reigns of power to pay from their own pockets for bad decisions of a legal nature in our courts. The Treasury should not pay sums of money in matters of litigation that emanate from clearly poor and politically-motivated decisions.

In this Peter David case, the Attorney-General, Elvin Nimrod, as well as Legal Advisor to Cabinet, Hugh Wildman and the defeated NNP Candidate for the town of St. George, Brenda Hood should be held responsible for paying the $10, 000.00 to Mr. David.

The Justice Benjamin judgement needs to be looked at carefully in terms of whether the judge gave any hint in the ruling that the legal action brought against Mr. David by Nimrod, Wildman and company was vexatious and frivolous.

If that was the case then individual taxpayers in this country need to get into action and prevent the Consolidated Fund from being raided and to get those behind the court case to make any such payment to Mr. David. If possible the judge should be approached through the legal means to ask him to amend the court order and to make the Attorney-General pay from his own pocket for the court case.

Justice Benjamin ruled that the State was unable to cite one single case in support of their contention and considered it "an abuse of the process of the court". These are not our words but the words of the learned high court judge.

It is also our view that if the Mitchell government appeals against the judgment of Justice Benjamin and loses the case then those responsible for taking that decision should also be held personally liable.

The cost should be pegged onto the salaries of the Legal Affairs Minister and Wildman if he is the one used by government to argue the case before the Court of Appeal. Mr. Wildman is making sufficient money from the NNP administration to carry the legal expenses of such matters before our legal courts.

It is our position that a new administration in St. George's should make the necessary constitutional changes and to pass legislation in parliament to back-date the law to make those who are reckless in their use of State Power to pay for their ill-conceived decisions.

If our politicians know that they might be personally held accountable for bad decisions, then they would think twice before taking such foolish decisions that prove costly to the State.

Mr. Wildman was quick to move to the Court of Appeal to try and get Minister Gregory Bowen's name remove from the 20 million dollar Dipcon judgement. This decision was influenced by a move being made by attorney-at-law, Celia Edwards-Clyne to secure the millions from Bowen and his properties in light of the limited amounts being paid by the State to Dipcon.