GECOM duty-bound to respect Guyana’s Constitution – FITUG

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) on Friday said that the acting Chief Justice, Roxane George’s rulings on the no-confidence motion and other challenges that arose out of its passage, have addressed several weighty issues and undoubtedly brought much-needed clarity to the several differing views which emerged in the days post-December 21, 2018.
Acknowledging Government’s intention to appeal the High Court’s decisions as well as to continue to “operate as normal”, FITUG posited that this should not be the case especially given the Chief Justice’s rulings.
“It seems respect for the Constitution, our nation’s supreme legislation, has gone out the window, so to speak. The Federation recalls, that President David Granger, in his message in the APNU/AFC 2015 manifesto, committed: “…to bring an end to …constitutional abuse by the President, Cabinet and executive branch of the Government”. Today, the very matter the President vowed to bring an end to is distressingly taking place by a Government he leads,” it noted.
The union umbrella-body went on to say that as it stands, the clock is ticking and the 90-day deadline for elections looms.
“It is now incumbent on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which is duty bound to respect to the Constitution, to inform the public of its state of readiness to abide by the constitutional clock. The seeming hemming and hawing by the elections body needs to be brought to an end and elections machinery needs to be kicked into high gear. Our country can ill-afford the constitutional stalemate that could very well emerge should the Elections Commission be unable to fulfil its responsibilities. We believe that the Government, rather than procrastinating, should abide by (the) will of the National Assembly which has been buttressed now (with) the Chief Justice’s rulings,” the union said.