Dabdoub expects retro payment

NEWLY CONFERRED Member of Parliament (MP), for North Eastern St. Catherine, Abe Dabdoub, said he expects to be paid retroactively as MP, for the period since the general elections of 1997.

The Election Court ruled on Friday that the attorney, who was a candidate for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), is the winner of the election, unseating the People's National Party's Phyllis Mitchell.

He could receive at least $5 million for the period, if his expectations are realised.

"I do not know exactly what is the law in such a situation. As a matter of fact I was not even thinking about a salary either. But since the court said I am the Member of Parliament and 1997 was the time of the elections, then I expect I will be paid retroactively," he said last Friday.

A State Minister who did not wish to be identified said last week that they received a salary of just over $1.6 million annually, which is a basic pay of $140,000 per month, minus allowances. An MP without any ministerial responsibility receives just over $1.2 million per year for a monthly salary of $100,000 per month.

According to Mr. Dabdoub, he was one of the lawyers representing the JLP after the 1972 general elections, in the case of Arthur Williams versus the PNP's Dr. Douglas Manley. Dr. Manley was declared the winner after the election, but four years into his term, he was unseated by the court and Mr. Williams declared winner.

Mr. Williams is the father of current JLP deputy General Secretary for administration, Arthur Williams Jr.

Mr. Dabdoub said that Dr. Manley was not asked to return his salary as he was being paid as a Minister of Govern-ment. Dr. Manley was Minister of Youth and Community Develop-ment, in the Cabinet, headed by his younger brother Michael.

"As I understood it then, he was a Minister. In this case, Mrs. Mitchell is a State Minister and the same situation may apply. So she would not return the salary. However, I believe if she had been a backbencher, she would have had to return it," he said.

However, in a rare political moment of commendation, Mr. Dabdoub, said, Mrs. Mitchell has been working in the constituency since the election, and has made a great contribution at the national level and should be paid for that.

Responding to the court's decision, Op-position Leader Edward Seaga, speaking with The Sunday Gleaner from the Cayman Islands, said the party was elated with the decision, despite the time that had elapsed.

Asked about the issue of payment, he said, as far as he could remember, Mr. Williams was paid retroactively when he was awarded the seat close to the 1976 general elections. At the end of the vote count in 1997, Mr. Dabdoub polled 4,713 votes to the PNP's Mitchell, 4,750. Bancroft Anglin of the National Democratic Movement polled 117 votes. Friday's decision by the court brings the JLP's number of seats in the House of Representatives to 12.

Mr. Dabdoub could be sworn in as early as Tuesday once the Electoral Office of Jamaica, gives the go-ahead to the Clerk to Parliament.

E.V.

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