ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA: Protesting lawyers are scheduled to meet Friday to decide their next move in their ongoing protest to have the government turn its back on its decision to appoint controversial Jamaican Hugh Wildman as Attorney General. The lawyers begun their unprecedented protest on Tuesday, when Head of the Grenada Bar Association Ruggles Ferguson announced that they were boycotting all court proceedings Wildman who has been working in Grenada since the New National Party came into power a decade ago has been a darling of the Keith Mitchell administration, but has invoked the ire of local lawyers and suspicion of some legal officials. “He is a law unto himself. He attacks judges. He attacks lawyers.” Ferguson declared in announcing the protest. “We are not accepting this,” senior lawyer Reynold Benjamin declared. “(His appointment) is a declaration of war….. an insult to the legal profession. He is not a man that the Grenadian lawyers feel they can look up to as a member of the profession,” he said. “The Attorney General is the leader of the profession; we have to look up to him. Right now we are looking down on Mr. Wildman. That is where the Attorney generalship will be, in the gutter.” Benjamin declared: “The profession is unanimous that Mr. Wildman is unsuitable. How can you have a leader that his troops don’t want to follow?” “We find it inconceivable that the government could have contemplated recommending Mr. Wildman’s appointment to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission given the history that Mr. Wildman has had with members of the Grenada Bar,” Ferguson said. “Having him now as Head of the Bar in Grenada, it is obviously (a mistake) especially in a time of this when the administration of justice is already suffering,” he said. “How can you then, when we are trying to rebuild…..impose Mr. Wildman on us and expect any co-operation at all? It literally means all fall down,” Ferguson added. The government issued a statement on the dispute Thursday, a full two days after the protest begun; saying the Ministry of Legal Affairs was surprised at the lawyers’ action. It also said that Legal Affairs Minister Elvin Nimrod is committed to meeting with the lawyers at the earliest convenience, but he has been away for most of the week in Jamaica where he has been attending the Caribbean-China Trade forum. But the statement ominously stood by the pending appointment of Wildman, which it calls a most capable lawyer that will serve the government of Grenada well in the capacity. But Ferguson listed a litany of ethical and other lapses -- from threatening lawyers to inappropriate contacts with jurors, to suing judges -- that he said made Wildman unfit. “The essence of this protest is really to protect the office of Attorney General, and you have to understand the importance of that high Constitutional Office,” Benjamin said. “We must take this stand in protection of our institution. The Attorney General is not just a job, it is a constitutional office. It is import to the protection of the liberty of our people,” he added. “If we undermine our institutions we might as well lie down and die.” Wildman has also courted controversy, including refusing to sit in matters before Eastern Caribbean court judge Brian Alleyne. His critics say it was his stance that resulted in the government failing to file its case in a suit brought by Trinidad engineering firm Dipcon over a breach of contract challenge. The court has awarded a 20 million dollar in a default judgment to the company. There is not just a legal, but also a political under-current as well to the ongoing controversy over Wildman, who once served as Director of Public Prosecutions and recently a legal advisor to the Grenada police. Unofficially, he has also been advising Prime Minister Keith Mitchell on legal matters. There is also a strong suspicion that the government’s move to appoint Wildman is tied to the impending investigation into wrong doing by Prime Minister Mitchell. The one-man probe into the allegations is expected to get started in the first part of this year, after its September scheduled start was delayed after Hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada. As a legal advisor Wildman fought against the investigation, and threatened legal action against opposition politicians who presented what they said was “evidence” that demanded a criminal investigation into the allegations of bribery brought against the Prime Minister. Wildman had dismissed the “evidence” as hearsay, and something on which the police could not act. As the new Attorney General, Wildman could play a key role in the process of the probe. Outgoing Attorney General Raymond Anthony, who this week has been negotiating his severance package with the government, has been viewed as too accommodating of the investigative process. His office had reportedly begun facilitating the process where the commission would have been able to gather evidence for the inquiry from central figures in the allegations including the US-based Eric Resteiner and Timothy Bass. The government has not given any official reason why Anthony is being replaced at this time. However a government source has called all the speculation hog-wash saying there has been active consideration since the 2003 general election to replacing Anthony, whose competence has been questioned by some of the officials. “The move to find a replacement begun long before there was an investigation into any thing,” the source said. Indications are that the government is willing to “discuss” the lawyers’ concerns, but has no plans of backing down on the nomination of Wildman. “We are willing to compromise on anything except that,” an official told CARIBUPDATE.COM. “Wildman is more competent than all of them who’s talking. They are basically afraid of him.” The government is also banking on time, predicting the lawyers “protest” will fizzle, and they’d be forced to return to the courts to represent their clients. The officials have also suggested that only a “handful of lawyers – “no more that one tenth of all those who practice Grenada” – is actively involved in the Grenada Bar Association. Benjamin was asked by a reporter why he thought Anthony was being replaced now. He declared: “Well that is a political decision. I think you know the answer of that my dear.” “Unfortunately so, we have to take this action. It is an unprecedented thing fort the legal profession, since we are obligated to appear and protect our clients. (However) we hope our clients will understand and the Grenadian public will understand in giving support to the institutions that we have,” Benjamin said. Reprinted from Caribupdate.com