APNU/AFC breaks record for constitutional violations in Anglo-Caribbean – Nandlall

…blasts coalition for relentless efforts to massacre democracy

The Constitution of Guyana is the highest governing document in the country; it is oftentimes referred to as the supreme law of the land. It contains fundamental principles and established precedents that constitute the legal basis of the nation.
But when one is to examine the style of governance of APNU/AFC over the last five years, they will arrive at the inescapable conclusion that the coalition’s actions amount to flagrant violations of the Constitution and utter disrespect for the rule of law.

This was the picture painted by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall of the previous Government’s rule when he made his contributions to the budget debate on Friday during the 12th sitting of Parliament.
He told the House that this budget presented themed “Our Plan for Prosperity” came after five years of a style of governance by APNU/AFC that constantly placed democracy and the rule of law upon trial.
According to the Attorney General, “no Government in the English-speaking Caribbean, since independence, has been found guilty, more times by the Judiciary of violating its Constitution and trampling upon the rule of law, than the APNU/AFC, from 2015 to 2020.”

Taking the House down memory lane, Nandlall reminded that the coalition’s unconstitutional journey begun just after its first week in Government when former Minister Simona Broomes wrote a letter upon the instructions of former President David Granger directing the Public Service Commission (PSC), to halt all promotions.
Nandlall said that Chief Justice Ian Chang, as he then was, on June 24, 2015, quashed the letter as unlawful and unconstitutional, as it violated Article 226 of the Constitution. “That is how the abuse of the Constitution begun and it never stopped until they left office in August 2020,” Nandlall noted.

Runaway train
Describing APNU/AFC as a “runaway train”, Nandlall noted that the train smashed into the Constitution and would over its next four years of rule, attempt to wreck the rule of law on repeated occasions. The Minister reminded that under the coalition’s rule, the Housing Ministry seized persons’ Transported and Titled Core Homes. The court again ruled that this was a violation of citizens’ constitutional right to property.
The APNU/AFC was called out by Nandlall for committing unconstitutional acts. He said that former President David Granger revoked over 50-50-year rice farmers’ leases in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), and the court ruled that he violated the Constitution. President Granger unilaterally appointed a Chairman to GECOM, again violating the Constitution, as the CCJ ruled, the Minister recalled.
As Nandlall went through a list of constitutional breaches committed by the coalition, Opposition Members of Parliament were unusually silent.
He added, “President Granger attempted to seize Red House from the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre and revoked a 99-year lease. The court ruled that he violated the Constitution. The President refused to constitute the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) after it expired in 2017, again violating the Constitution. The President summoned the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and requested that he resign, again violating the Constitution.”
According to him, former Minister of State Joseph Harmon wrote a letter on behalf of President Granger directing the Police Service Commission to halt promotions, but the court ruled that he violated the Constitution. Turning his attention to former Attorney General Basil Williams, who he has over and over again described as incompetent, Nandlall reminded that he threatened a sitting Judge during a hearing at the High Court.
Following its defeat by a No-Confidence Motion in December 2018, the coalition refused to give up office and hold elections within three months as mandated by the Constitution.
Instead, the Attorney General reminded that the illegal Government which was reduced to caretaker status instituted a slew of legal proceedings, and continued squatting in office.
“In fact, they (APNU/AFC) refused to recognise the validity of the No-Confidence Motion. The case went all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice, where they embarrassed every Guyanese on a global stage by arguing that 33 is not a majority of 65.” But there is more, Nandlall pointed out that the APNU/AFC tried to remove thousands of registered electors from the voters’ list in order to deny them their right to vote.
The APNU/AFC went to the courts, but the ruling was not in its favour. According to the Attorney General, the foregoing is only a few of the multiple violations of the Constitution and the rule of law barefacedly carried out by the APNU/AFC from 2015-2020.
Before concluding his remarks on this issue, Nandlall touched on the protracted elections of March 2, 2020 – an election which APNU was forced to hold and which was held one year later than it should have been held. He pointed out that the coalition was first to declare victory at those elections, but then tried to rig it and failed.
They spent the next five months trying to denigrate and render those elections fraudulent, he added.
“During this period, the world witnessed five months of an admixture of manifest vulgarity, rank fraud and trickery, a series of nonsensical litigation, vitriolic abuse of the diplomatic, regional and international community, non-stop comical propaganda, a mountain of the most asinine political argumentations and veiled and not so veiled threats of violence and thuggery.”
Nandlall underscored that it was an unparalleled melee of madness, never before witnessed in the western hemisphere, but expectedly, it ended the political careers of many but should have ended the careers of all involved.
“Unfortunately, vestiges remain with us and now, want to lecture the Guyanese people about democracy and the rule of law – the sheer audacity!” Nandlall asserted.