The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) says it will discontinue any appeal in the COVID-19 vaccine mandate lawsuit, if it is elected to office at the next general elections, constitutionally due in February 2026, but likely to be held by November 2025.
Opposition Leader Dr. Godwin Friday spoke soon after the High Court ruled against the government in a lawsuit that public sector unions brought challenging the mandate, which led to hundreds of public sector workers losing their jobs in December 2021.
High Court judge Esco Henry ruled that the special measures rules made under Statutory Rules and Orders 28 of 2021 — the vaccine mandate law — are unlawful, unconstitutional, and void.
She further held that none of the public sector workers who lost their jobs under the law ceased to be entitled to hold their respective positions and are entitled to all benefits that were due and would become due to them.
Attorney Cerepha Harper-Joseph, who represented the government at the trial, has already indicated that an appeal would be filed and that she would apply for a stay of the execution of the judgment.
Justice Henry said this was expected, regardless of how her judgement had gone, adding “it’s a very important decision impacting on very significant public interests matters”.
The judge said both sides “have a duty to pursue justice on behalf of the respective parties to the extent they consider necessary”.
Friday, speaking on his weekly radio program noted that the government announced its decision to appeal even before seeing the written judgement.
“… well, I don’t see how they could talk about appeal and they haven’t even seen the entire judgement yet or consulting, I would suppose, with his lawyers,” said Friday, who is also a lawyer.
“When you talk about appealing now, it’s just a reflexive spiteful reaction which will not go down well with the people of this country. It’s time to settle this matter. It’s time to let the people go back to their work. It’s time to give them back the benefits. It’s time to show them the respect that they deserve,” he told radio listeners.
“In any event, any appeal that they do, an NDP government, we will discontinue that because it’s simply not the right thing to be doing this time to people who are struggling and suffering still from the government’s misguided, hard-headed, arrogant policy that they know everything that is right and not listening to everybody else,” said Friday, whose NDP lost the 2020 general election to the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP).
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