PM hails Jaundy Martin as a distinguished Attorney General

Outgoing Attorney General, Jaundy Martin has been hailed as “a distinguished Attorney General of this country.”

This comes from Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

During the meeting of Parliament on Tuesday, October 25 Gonsalves paid a glowing tribute to Martin, shortly before he announced the appointment of Martin’s successor, Grenville Williams.

Martin spent his final day sitting in Parliament as the Attorney General of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on Tuesday, October 25.

“Today is the last day, unfortunately for us, that the Honourable Jaundy Martin would be sitting in this Honourable House as Attorney General,” Dr Gonsalves said in Parliament on Tuesday.

He said that about three months ago, Martin indicated to him that “there is a requirement for him to be with his family in another Caribbean country, and he was asking me to allow him to go.”
“You can’t keep a man from his family,” Gonsalves commented.

The Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Legal Affairs said Martin was kind and considerate enough not to leave office by the end of September, which he had preferred, but continued to serve until another Attorney General was found.

“He appreciated that and he agreed to stay on until the end of this month.”

The Prime Minister said Martin has been “an excellent Attorney General,” and that he served in this capacity for the past five years.

Martin is the second person to fill the post of Attorney General under the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration.

He succeeded former Attorney General, Judith Jones Morgan.

In reflection, Dr Gonsalves said “I first met Jaundy Martin when I practiced Law, many moons ago.”

“Indeed, he reminded me that I encouraged him to do Law”.

“He was a clerk in the magistrates court, always very disciplined, very diligent as a clerk.

“He learnt the Law on the ground, inside of the court,” Gonsalves recalled.

The Prime Minister added that Minister with responsibility for the Public Service, Frederick Stephenson, is also a former clerk to retired magistrate, Errol Mounsey.

Martin went on to The University of the West Indies (UWI) to do a degree in Law and graduated with Honours.

He also studied at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad before working in the service of the state, and then becoming a very successful legal practitioner.

Gonsalves added that Martin was later “trained and was selected by the Judicial Authorities as one of the mediators, when mediation was introduced into the civil litigation process, to solve disputes in a way without going through litigation.”

Martin was also described as “a reforming Attorney General,” with excellent supervisory skills.

Gonsalves reflected that during his term in office, Martin has written hundreds of opinion pieces, on various aspects of the Law.
In conjunction with the Solicitor General, the outgoing Attorney General has had to supervise civil litigation matters.

“It was his judgement when to settle a matter, and when not to settle.”

If the state was wrong in any matter, Martin advised the Cabinet accordingly and also suggested “reasonable recompence.”

“He is stuffed with integrity, he loves the Law, he loves the country, he is a patriot.”

The Prime Minister said Martin has been a tower of strength to him, and advised him “on matters of the Law and for the administration of justice.”

“Jaundy Martin will go down in history as having made a sterling, and indeed an extraordinary contribution to the development of the Law in this country and good governance, and the people of this country are grateful,” Gonsalves noted.

Before ending his tribute, the Prime Minister spoke of the possibility of Martin returning to these shores in the future, in a judicial capacity.

He also expressed sincere gratitude to Martin for his service.

Opposition Leader, Dr Godwin Friday also joined in wishing Martin well, as he seeks to be with his family.

“Family is the most important relationship that we have on this earth,” Friday noted.

He too, expressed sincere appreciation to Jaundy Martin for his service as Attorney General of SVG.