Resumen de Prorogation in Commonwealth Caribbean countries: an analysis of the relevance of the Miller decision

Hamid Ghany

• The judgment in the Miller case in the UK in September 2019 which overturnedthe decision of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to advise the Queen to prorogueParliament is not applicable in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The view ofDerek O’Brien in the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics inJanuary 2022, which suggests otherwise, is challenged.The article addresses the use of the prorogation of Parliament as a means ofavoiding adverse political circumstances in the Commonwealth Caribbean byPrime Ministers and Presidents to ensure political survival in the following cases:1. 1989 – Prime Minister Herbert Blaize in Grenada.2. 2002 – Prime Minister Patrick Manning in Trinidad and Tobago.3. 2012 – Prime Minister Tillman Thomas in Grenada.4. 2014 – President Donald Ramotar in Guyana.In the Commonwealth Caribbean, all of the constitutions are written, unlike theUnited Kingdom.The constitutional dissimilarities on prorogation between the Westminster-Whitehall model in the Commonwealth Caribbean and the Westminster modelin the UK will confirm the inapplicability of the Miller case to theCommonwealth Caribbean.