JLP to challenge gov't $45b NHT withdrawal in Constitutional Court

The government is to be hit by yet another legal challenge to its bid to withdraw $45 billion for budgetary support over four years from the state-owned National Housing Trust (NHT).

The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has declared that it too will be seeking the intervention of the Constitutional Court.

Following a meeting of the JLP's Central Executive today, the Opposition party announced that it will "file an action in the Constitutional Court seeking a declaration on the constitutionality of the NHT (Special Provisions) Act which was passed in the House of Representatives on March 5 and the Senate on March 8."

The NHT (Special Provisions) Act essentially gives the Government the authority to withdraw the funds.

In outlining its reason to mount a challenge, the JLP in a release issued to the media this afternoon, explained: "We believe that matters as fundamental as these; that is the property rights of Jamaicans, the status of the NHT and the scope of the property rights under the Constitution, deserve ventilation before the Courts."

The suit will be filed under the name of Opposition leader Andrew Holness as a contributor of the NHT.

According to Holness, "the Charter of Rights was passed in 2011 after years of advocacy and debate. The rights it guarantees must be jealously guarded and defended if the rights of all Jamaicans are to be protected."

The JLP Central Executive indicated that it will not be applying for an injunction.

The JLP's decision to head to the Constitutional Court follows a similar decision by Citizens Action for Principle and Integrity (CAPI) which filed a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking a declaration that taking the money from the trust would amount to a breach of the Constitution.

The motion was filed by 48-year-old St James businessman Fitzroy Fagan, who says he is a contributor to the fund.

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