Once again, the Opposition “try a t’ing” to claim the PPP was “cocking de wuk” on registering voters to win the upcoming elections. Now, there are several reasons why they keep on going this route – even after they’d been slapped down by the courts. The main reason is that this was their standard operating practice for decades.
Remember that investigation by some British outfit, that showed horses grazing placidly in a yard in England where dozens of Guyanese had registered to vote?? They can’t conceive that the PPP hasn’t learnt a thing or two from them!!
What the Court – in the person of Chief Justice Roxane George, SC – had ruled on an application by the same PNC candidate bringing the latest suit was that there was ABSOLUTELY no constitutional requirement for Guyanese citizens to show they’re RESIDENT in Guyana to be allowed to vote!! Article 159 sets out the qualification and disqualification for electors. And Sec (1) baldly states that “no person shall vote at an election unless he or she is registered as an elector.” That’s it!! All folks gotta do is show – by a valid birth certificate or passport – that they’re citizens, and get registered on the National Register of Registrants (NRR) from age 14. The Voters List is extracted from the NRR before elections.
The Opposition brought THIS case because they thought they’d found a Constitutional loophole which demanded a residency requirement at a specific address for Regional Elections for RDCs – which are conducted simultaneously with the General Elections for MPs. They claimed that the PPP was getting their supporters to register at fictitious addresses, or addresses with “dilapidated buildings” etc, where they just couldn’t possibly be living!! They invoked Article 73(1), which states: “Members of a RDC shall be elected by persons residing in the Region and registered as electors for the purpose of Article 159.” They figured the phrase “persons residing in the Region” gave them their smoking gun to prove that while folks might be citizens entitled to vote, they weren’t automatically entitled to vote in a PARTICULAR region if they weren’t living there!! After all, the regional votes lead to Regional MPs!!
But CJ George declared there’s no legal requirement for Guyanese citizens to be resident at a PARTICULAR address to be registered on the NRR, or to vote at the General and Regional Elections!! In fact, she pointed out that it would be illogical for Parliament, having REMOVED the residency requirement from Article 159 in the 1980 Constitution, to have intended the creation of a separate registration process to verify addresses under Article 73(1)!!
She conceded there were constitutional ambiguities, but said the legislature should straighten these out, not the courts!! Gotta maintain separation of powers!!
…on Trump’s tariffs
In looking at the tariffs just imposed by Pres Trump on imports from the rest of the world, one is reminded of the old saw “Where does the elephant sit? Anywhere it damn well pleases!!” The world is confounded by the methodology used to arrive at the quantum of the tariffs – for instance, the gargantuan 38% slapped on our exports!! You’d think the pointy-head bureaucrats in the US Dept of Commerce or some such body would’ve gone through the goods we export to the USA with a fine-tooth comb and come up with an average tariff rate to apply, no?? NO!!
What was done was simply take our total exports to the US and subtract from it our total imports from them, which in our case leads to a 78% surplus. And this figure was DECLARED to arise from our tariffs – which it ain’t!!
The irony is the surplus comes from Exxon’s oil exports – from which we don’t even get taxes!! Ouch!!
…in call-centre closure
Your Eyewitness was taken aback by the downsizing of the Teleperformance call centre, that resulted in thousands being let go. Seems this was partly due to lackadaisical work habits, like absenteeism. Are such persons REALLY “unemployed”??
