Magistrate Elwood Watts ruled that Minister of Health cannot be the informant in relation to any COVID-19 matter.
In fact, he said, if the Minister of Health had no authority under the Emergency Management Act, Section 28 A (7), he could not delegate responsibility.
The magistrate was deciding on arguments in the District “C” Magistrates’ Court yesterday surrounding the legality of the minister being listed as the informant on a number of COVID-19 related charges.
“The only way the COVID Monitoring Unit can lay information is if the Chief Medical Officer says so and there is nothing to say that that is what the Chief Medical Officer has done. Section 28 A is pellucid. . . . The minister is not the proper authority, but more properly, the Chief Medical Officer is the proper person to bring the information,” the magistrate said. (RA)
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