Yesterday we told you that the high court ruled that the Judicial and Legal Services Commission should pay the legal costs of election reform advocate Jerry Enriquez. Enriquez, in his quest to put the last general elections on hold until the redistricting process was complete, reportedly overheard a statement uttered by judge Tawanda Hondora. This led him to file a formal complaint, which he believe wasn't treated with urgency or respect. He explained more via Zoom today.
Jerry Enriquez, Activist
"During the injunction case that we had, the microphone of the judge was unmuted during the lunch break. And we heard discussions that he was having with another judge that made us extremely disappointed."
"And we were very concerned that our case would have been very compromised. And therefore, we had recordings of parts of that conversation that we submitted to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to complain about the judge's misconduct and that we had no faith in him continuing with our case."
"The Judicial and Legal Services Commission continued to ignore, in my view, our plea for an investigation into the misconduct of the judge. Every time I write to the JLSC, their response was bland, and to me it was very dismissive for them to be saying the matter is in the attention of the JLSC."
"And the months was dragging on in a very important case in which we were seeking redress and some kind of justice for what we had filed, including recordings of the conversation. And so after seven months or near seven months, we decided to file for a judicial review of the conduct of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission."
"And then now we have judgment from Madame Alexander confirming that there was blatant disregard for the processes and procedures that the Judicial and Legal Services Commission was to take. I believe at all levels of our engagement, it was meant to frustrate and discourage the process of the government, the Prime Minister and his government blatantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, and continuing in office illegally."
"And so a citizen like myself taking on the case and they were expending hundreds of thousands in my view in their resources to fight, to use the people's money to fight something that is blatantly wrong."
"And so while it could be discouraging, I am very happy about this ruling. It's very encouraging."
Enriquez explained the final amount to be paid will have to be negotiated.
