KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition Spokesperson on Justice, Senator Donna Scott-Mottley, has accused the Andrew Holness-led Government of launching an “assault on democracy”.

Scott-Mottley ripped into the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government during a press conference at the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Old Hope Road headquarters on Wednesday, also accusing the administration of “authoritarian arrogance”.

The press conference was called after the government used its majority in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to ram through changes to the constitution, which effectively increases the age at which the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) retires from 60-65.

READ: DPP can now serve up to age 70 – House approves increase in retirement age of senior prosecutor and auditor general

The PNP is peeved that the change, which also affects the Auditor General, was made without consultation with Opposition leader Mark Golding. It was made despite strenuous objections from Opposition members of Parliament who contributed to the debate.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) I watched an assault on democracy take place in our Parliament,” Scott-Mottley remarked.

She said she was not surprised because “this government has always been in a fight with the Constitution.”

She added that the tendency manifested itself from the time Holness was Opposition leader when he sought to use pre-signed letters of resignation to remove two of his senators.

Scott-Mottley also noted that Holness was the first prime minister to consider placing a chief justice on probation.

This, she said, was a “demonstration of his lack of understanding of the country’s parliamentary system and the critical decision to have the separation of powers embedded in parliamentary procedures and the constitution.”

She also chided Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, who piloted the amendment bill, and whom she noted “tried to assume responsibility for this amendment”.

“If you are the minister of Justice you have a greater responsibility than any other Member of Parliament or member of Cabinet to lead by example in the way that you do matters, the way that you bring these matters to the Parliament,” she stated.

Scott-Mottley, an attorney-at-law, lamented that the Opposition was not notified of the changes except a few hours prior to the convening of Parliament.

“In this way, the minister of justice and the government demonstrated a level of authoritarian arrogance which we have come to see as a part of their modus operandi and a reflection of how they see their role as against the people of this country,” she said adding that consultation was necessary, in particular, because of the vast powers of the DPP.

“The Director of Public Prosecutions can institute and undertake proceedings against any person before any court …in respect of any offence against the laws of Jamaica. The DPP can take over and continue any such criminal proceedings that may have been instituted by any other persons or authority. And most significantly, the DPP can discontinue at any stage, before judgment is delivered, any such criminal proceedings instituted or undertaken by him (her) or any other person or authority,” she said.

Scott-Mottley went on to express concern that the government was on a mission to impose its will on the Jamaican people.

“More and more you hear about mandatory sentencing, mandatory wills, mandatory DNA. And this government is determined to impose itself into every aspect of the life of these (Jamaican) people,” Scott-Mottley concluded.