Cock fight: two AGs fight in a consitutional case
The attorney general of the country recently made a statement that interested me. It was as part of the first constitutional case being registered in the country by the opposition party.
AG Phuntsho Wangdi, a LLM from University of Adelaide, said the opposition MP Damchoe Dorji cannot represent his party in the court. It is ironical for me. In one hand, the government is turning deaf ear to demand from opposition party to fund a lawyer to speak on behalf of the opposition during the hearing procedures and on the other, the AG, government’s legal advisor is barring a lawyer of the opposition party to speak.
It is in fact a cock fight. Dorji is the first AG of the country. He served as AG before joining politics and knows whether his presence in the court as party advocate is illegal. The clear indication of the statement by AG Wangdi was that a big man cannot come down to serve in junior position. I wondered whether he learned anything about equality while in Adelaide.
For me, it’s not the issue for AG Wangdi should speak about who represents opposition party in the legal battle. In doing that, he is indirectly barring opposition in seeking justice. The AG should have talked whether the government has right to revise sales and custom tax, as in this case. The opposition party has right to hire any lawyer, whether he is party worker or professional lawyer to defend in the court.
The opposition party has asked the national assembly speaker to request the government to fund a lawyer. Even if the government funds, it is the sole right of the opposition party to choose any lawyer – even Damchoe Dorji.
If, according to AG Wangdi, representing party in court by Damchoe is against the jambi act, it should certainly be against the jambi act for an AG to enter party politics. Damchoe is not a retired drangpon (district court judge), he quit job to join politics.
Damchoe has rightly argued that he had to represent the party, as the government had not responded to their request and is set to do that. He has said if the government denies their request, they will fight the case, even if they have to pay from their own pockets to arrange a legal representative.
A good decision. Good luck!