THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL RESIGNS IN CLOUD OF CONTROVERSY
(Ramodibedi’s resignation contrary to the Constitution)
From the State House communiqué, it has been stated that Ramodibedi has handed his resignation in a letter dated March 17, to the President’s office. In the Seychelles Nation’s edition of Thursday 23rd of March 2006, it is stated that; “The departure of Justice Ramodibedi was overseen by the head of the Constitutional Appointments Authority, Mr. France Bonte, who cited, “personal reasons” as the Appeal Court President’s grounds for leaving. He stressed that Justice Ramodibedi had not been sacked and that his departure yesterday was not unexpected, the case having been worked on since February 24th”.
This extract from the Nation makes for interesting reading, when one considers what Article 139 (1) of the Constitution has to say about the office of the CAA: “There shall be a Constitutional Appointments Authority which shall perform the functions conferred upon it by this Constitution and any other law”. Apart from the Constitution itself, there is no other law (yet) which has laid down the functions of the Constitutional Appointments Authority as regards to justices of Appeal. Articles 122 and 123 of the Constitution deal with function of the CAA in appointing justices of Appeal and the President of the Court of Appeal - Article 131 (1) (c) of the Constitution reads thus: “subject to Article 134, a person holding office of Justice of Appeal or Judge shall vacate that office..... subject to clause (2) if the person resigns in writing addressed to the President and to the Constitutional Appointment Authority”.
Hence as far as the resignation of a Justice of Appeal or Judge is concerned, the only function of the CAA is to receive such resignation. Therefore it was neither the function of the CAA nor that of its Chairman to oversee the departure of Mr. Ramodibedi and to be involved in the negotiation of his departure. The extract from the ‘Nation’ adds credence to the belief that Mr. Ramodibedi did not jump, but was pushed (forced out of his office). Furthermore there is no mention that Mr. Ramodibedi sent a copy of his letter of resignation to the Constitutional Appointments Authority in line with Article 131 (1 ) (c). This means that his resignation is contrary to the Constitution. Mr. Ramodibedi could have done that deliberately to send out a message that he was indeed pushed.The other questions which require answers are: Why did SBC TV not conduct an interview with Mr. Ramodibedi and let him express his reasons for leaving? Or have they? We are waiting in anticipation. The ‘Seychelles Nation’ article did mention that “He was properly compensated,” according to Mr. Bonte, of the judge who still had another two years on his contract. Was it all in foreign exchange?