CATEGORY:COMMENTARY
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By Dr. Francis Alexis, Attorney-at-law
Inside Grenada contributor
Tuesday October 24, 2006


ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Rudolph Holligan, citizen of Guyana, was issued a work permit by Grenada’s Minister of Labour to work in Grenada as a carpenter 20.09.05 - 19.09.06. But by letter of 10 April 06, the Minister revoked the work permit instantly without indicating any reason. Holligan applied to the High Court to review that revocation. The day before that matter was to be heard, Grenada’s Immigration Minister made a Deportation Order to deport Holligan. Holligan moved for review of the deportation. The work permit having expired, it was not renewed, and Holligan was eased out of Grenada. This was a rather shabby way to treat a fellow CSME national.

ONE WRONG
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The work permit had been properly issued to Holligan; and its terms fully complied with by Holligan working in Grenada and maintaining his lawful Guyanese wife and their 21\2 year old son. Holligan dwelt among us free from any allegation in court of breaking any criminal law or committing any civil wrong. On this record, Holligan had every legitimate expectation that his work permit would be honored, and renewed. Yet, the Minister revoked it prematurely. The Minister gave no reason. Nor was any reason apparent. These things being so, the Minister’s decision to revoke Holligan’s work permit was an egregious wrong.

TO REVIEW REVOCATION
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The revocation of a work permit, if properly done, if attended with good reason, casts a cloud of suspicion over the holder. Therefore, not to challenge the revocation is to admit wrongdoing. So having done nothing to warrant the revocation, Holligan had his Ciboney Lawyers apply to the High Court to review the revocation.

The rule of law prohibits a Minister from revoking a work permit arbitrarily, on irrelevant grounds, unreasonably, irrationally, or unfairly. Otherwise, someone motivated by such baser human instincts as spite and envy might prod an unsuspecting Minister to revoke a permit when this might work injustice and reduce the Minister to ridicule. To keep the streams of justice clean of such impurities, the rule of law obliges the Court, in a proper case, to review a decision by the Minister to revoke a work permit. The Court may not lightly order the Minister to restore a work permit. But the Court may say that the revocation was wrongful.

COMPOUNDING THE WRONG
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June 30th last was the day scheduled for the Court to consider Holligan’s application for permission to seek judicial review of his work permit revocation. But on June 29, the Immigration Minister made a Deportation Order to deport Holligan to Guyana; and the Ministry moved to deport Holligan first flight next morning (June 30th).

The power of deportation is awesome. The Constitution of Grenada guarantees protection against deprivation of freedom of movement including the right to immunity from expulsion from Grenada; but denies this immunity from expulsion to a person who is not a citizen of Grenada. This is typical of modern Constitutions. Precisely because deportation is so draconian, and as the deporting of a person casts a very heavy cloud over him, its exercise is to be tempered with restraint and be well-grounded.

Grounds for deportation are characterized by misconduct, irresponsibility and criminality. Deportation should not be used to aid one to avoid having to pay foreign workers exploited by him.

Deportation should not be abused to prevent a person from having access to the High Court to review a decision by a Minister. There is therefore deep concern about what Hugh Wildman told the Court at the hearing of Holligan’s application for permission to seek judicial review of the work permit revocation. He said that the issuing of the Deportation Order had taken care of that application, that once Holligan was deported that application would become an academic exercise as Holligan would no longer have standing to pursue the matter.

The issuing of the deportation order in this way compounded the wrong done by revoking the work permit. Holligan moved for judicial review of the making of the Deportation Order. The High Court granted Holligan permission to pursue judicial review of both the work permit revocation and the deportation. Also, the Court stopped the deportation meanwhile. The State appealed only against the stopping of the deportation.

WON’T GO AWAY
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By the time that appeal reached the Court of Appeal, the work permit would have expired had it not been revoked. By consent, on appeal, the State withdrew its appeal, the Deportation Order was withdrawn, and Holligan undertook to leave Grenada as he has since done.

Holligan was treated most unfairly. He obviously was the victim of some baser human foible. The Labour Minister acted without reason that could stand scrutiny. The Immigration Minister declaring Holligan in the Deportation Order to be an undesirable person acted so flimsily that withdrawing it was unproblematic. The Holligan affair therefore presents the anatomy of abuse; it won’t go away.