Constitutional deadline to reconvene Parliament “not mandatory” – AG

Attorney General Basil Williams believes provisions in the Constitution that deals with the reconvening of Parliament four months after its dissolution is a discretionary order and not a mandatory diktat.
Williams gave the legal opinion over the weekend in response to the Guyana Bar Association, which at the end of the week cautioned over not having a new Parliament reconvened by April 30.

The legal interpretations come just days before the constitutional deadline—a result of the delayed declaration of the March 2, General Elections result.
The legal fraternity on Thursday berated the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over what appears to be a laissez-faire approach taken by the Secretariat in bringing finality to the elections and said the delays are disgraceful and inexcusable.
In a strongly-worded missive that was widely disseminated to the media on Thursday, the Guyana Bar Association reminded that “Article 69 of the Constitution of Guyana mandates that, on dissolution, the next session of Parliament must commence no later than four (4) months from the end of the preceding session. The last session of Parliament was dissolved on December 30, 2019. The next session of Parliament must, therefore, begin no later than April 30, 2020.”
The Attorney General over the weekend contended, however, “The Bar Council had a duty to fully disclose that though Article 69 of the Constitution provides that on dissolution the next session of Parliament must be convened no later than four months from the end of the preceding session, the Court of Appeal of Guyana in 2006 upheld the decision of the Chief Justice Carl Singh, that the four months timeline was directory and not mandatory.”
He said Parliament was at that time convened not on the second day of September 2006, (four months after dissolution) but on September 28, 2006, almost five months later and that the Bar Council did not make any alarm about a constitutional abyss then.
According to Williams, “in the 2006 elections, there was no pandemic that required social distancing, nor court challenge before the declaration of the results of the elections as at present and the evidence showed a deliberate intention on the part of the PPP/C to ignore the four months’ timeline in Article 69.”
The Bar in expressing its concern had reminded that “Guyana is a parliamentary democracy based on the rule of law” and “the absence of parliamentary oversight of those who purport to exercise executive powers, whether de facto or de jure, is of grave concern, as it places the rule of law under siege.”
According to the Bar, the Commission and its Secretariat must “do all acts and things necessary in the shortest possible time to ensure the accurate, credible and transparent declaration of the results of the General and Regional Elections held on March 2, 2020, so that the next session of Parliament can commence as constitutionally prescribed; that is, no later than April 30, 2020.”
The legal fraternity noted in its missive that effect can be given to the provisions of the Constitution for Parliament to be summoned by the constitutionally mandated timeline only if GECOM and its Secretariat act immediately in a manner evincing transparency, impartiality and fairness.
His colleague, Chairman of the coalition Administration’s, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Task Force, Moses Nagamootoo had, however, compounded the situation when over the weekend he refused to allow GECOM to allow the recount of the March 2 General and Regional Elections to continue beyond the 18:00h national curfew.