Opposition Senator Damion Crawford has accused Prime Minister Andrew Holness of constantly “trampling on the constitution”.

Crawford made the accusation as he hit back at criticism from Government Senator Mathew Samuda after Samuda accused “political actors” of impugning the character of career soldier, Retired Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Rocky Meade.

Meade, who served the Jamaica Defence Force for nearly 40 years before retiring in January this year, was tipped by Holness to be the next Cabinet Secretary. The announcement of his appointment was made in September and Meade said he looked forward to serving in the post.

However, his name was soon withdrawn following reports that having not served as a civil servant, Meade was not eligible to become the Cabinet Secretary as this would be unconstitutional.

Both Crawford and Samuda, who regularly describe themselves as being “good friends” despite their different political views, stated their opposing positions on the matter recently, when they made their contributions to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate. Samuda was particularly peeved at his perceived “poor” treatment of Meade by political operatives.

The government senator, who spoke first said: “Mr President, Jamaica needs good, capable, patriotic, public servants to allow this country to progress toward prosperity. I mention two this morning. I have however, worked with hundreds and met thousands”.

Samuda then pointed to two matters which he said have had divergent effects on the public service in recent times.

“The first matter is the reclassification exercise being undertaken by the Ministry of Finance & Public Service. This massive undertaking reflects the largest move by any administration since independence to appropriately compensate our civil servants for their work. It is no easy task.

Continuing, Samuda said the second matter referred to “the recent treatment of a 40-year veteran of the public service, Lieutenant General Rocky Meade, perpetrated by political actors”.

“For me, it was perhaps the lowest political display I have witnessed. Let my disgust be registered in the Hansard”.

When he responded, Crawford laid the blame for the perceived “bad” treatment of Meade squarely at the feet of the prime minister. He noted that it is against the constitution to appoint a person to the position of cabinet secretary if he/she had not previously served in the civil service.

“What I will not take Senator Samuda, is being chided for standing up for the constitution for which we were sworn to protect. If there is any revision of history, it is really being made by that (government) side and in particular the prime minister.

Crawford said he had no doubt that Meade was a true servant of this nation.

“I don’t know Rocky Meade very well, I can’t remember having met him. But in truth he should not have been put in the position to be publicly criticized. You were the ones who took the steps to put him in a position that it was not within the constitution for him to be put in (such) a position”.

“The person who should be chided is the prime minister of this country that has taken no less than five steps to abuse the constitution for which he’s the chief protector,” Crawford stated.

“He (Holness) is at constant war with the constitution,” added Crawford before reeling off a number of times the prime minister took decisions which he said were subsequently deemed by the courts or otherwise to be unconstitutional.

These included the pre-signed letters Holness sought to use to remove two senators from the Upper Chamber when the Jamaica Labour Party formed the Opposition and the landmark National Identification and Registration (NIDS) System which saw the original law being struck down by the Constitutional Court for violating the constitutional rights of Jamaicans.

“Rocky Meade’s ascension had to be withdrawn based on the unconstitutionality of that. The (period of) probation that he (Holness) proposed for the Chief Justice (Bryan) Sykes had to be withdrawn.

“And so the constant disregard didn’t end there because it continued with the states of emergency which the Jamaica Labour Party continues to claim is not against the constitution when the courts have found (otherwise),” said Crawford.

According to him, “where the concern should rightfully be is with the prime minister’s constant abuse and constant disregard of the constitution”.