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Today we also got Attorney General Elrington to comment on the June third resolution from the Bar Association alleging an appearance of bias on the bench. Â Now, Elrington is no fan of the Bar Association – in fact, he’s on record trying to challenge their monopoly on membership in the legal profession – but he’s also the titular Head Of The Bar. Â And so how did he feel when the Bar took out a resolution against Justice of Appeal Awich? Â Elrington, who is rarely pleased, was very disappointed – but not surprised:

Hon. Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington - Attorney-General
"You will know that I have had a very poor opinion of the Bar Association. I have complained about the Bar Association ceaselessly, and this particular resolution has only caused them to sink even lower in my estimation. I have had complaints about people who were appointed too, and I tried to stop some appointments. But, once that is done, that is done; the proper thing for me to do is to back off. We have a system that if the judge is incompetent and doesn't give proper judgements, you appeal it to the Caribbean Court of Justice, and that court is going to make that decision. And, if he has any other impairment which prevents him from being able to work or which makes him unsuited or unfit, you can take legal action. We had done that, that had been done in the case of Justice Mirabucks. But it not the place - to my mind - for the Bar Association to be passing resolutions of that nature. I was very disappointed."

Alindy Marisol Amaya - News Director, KREM News
"Can you tell how they gauged Justice Awich's performance in those two years to arrive at the conclusion that his tenure could be extended for another...?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington
" I will put my head on the block that there has not been a judgment of Awich that has gone to the Court of appeal so far in Trinidad to the Caribbean Court of Justice and that has been overturned. But I do know of other judges locally whose decisions are overturned over and over and over again by the court of appeal, and not a word is said by the Bar Association - not a single word. That is not the case with Awich. If you look at Awich’s judgments I am sure that he doesn’t have reversal of his decisions more than average in any jurisdiction."