Judiciary must “step up” – Jagdeo on important cases languishing in courts

A number of important cases are languishing in the court system, including the 2020 election fraud court case that has suffered years of delay, and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is urging the judiciary to “step up” in regard to trial of these cases.
During his press conference on Wednesday, the Vice President was asked whether he was concerned about the potential for evidence in the election fraud case being compromised amid the time it was taking to proceed with the trial. While he expressed concern over the possibility of such a development, Jagdeo has also urged the judiciary to address the matter.
“Too often we’re asked for explanations, over which we have no control. We, as an executive, we have evidence, supported by a CoI, of an attempt publicly known to everyone: that there was an attempt by individuals to steal the elections, contrary to law. They were engaged in criminal acts. We just want to get on with the trial, so that they have their day in court,” he responded.
“We’re not responsible for that. When we’re asked now about the sloth and our concerns. Yes, I’m worried about the compromising of evidence, etc. But the judiciary gets away with not saying anything. Who is in charge? They have to ensure that these matters move with some pace,” Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, some cases move quickly to trial, while other cases are unnecessarily dragged on for years in the court system. He cited as an example the land next to MovieTowne at Turkeyen, on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), which has for years been subject to litigation brought by Toolsie Persaud Limited.
In his backstory on the land case, Jagdeo explained that the Turkeyen land was taken away from private individuals by the former People’s National Congress (PNC) government of pre-1992 and given to a few people connected to former President Desmond Hoyte.
Jagdeo noted that when the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) got into office in 1992, they immediately made efforts to recover the lands. This prompted the persons who were given the land to unsuccessfully approach the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), arguing for prescriptive titles.
“Then they filed a case which has been going on for several years after the CCJ ruled for specific performance under a contract that they never respected. That they went for prescriptive title. It’s been languishing in the courts for ages. We can’t get it heard. An abuse of the court system,” Jagdeo affirmed.
According to the Vice President, these persons have been squatting on Government property for years without paying the monies they owed. All this while the case languished in court and an arbitration panel awarded the Government the right to collect monies from them. For comparison, Jagdeo noted that an ordinary man could be evicted by court order within a matter of days.

Step up
According to Jagdeo, he has had discussions with Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC., on the issue. He made it clear that injustices must not be allowed to continue in perpetuity while cases languish in the court.
“We can’t allow people to continue to squat on Government property, just hanging on in the court system. But you let somebody else go to the court. Especially somebody connected. Their case goes through the court in a lightning speed. And these are big, national issues. Protecting tax payers’ assets and the country’s property. And a private individual now, benefitting from free use of the Government land for 10 years, a massive wharf. One of the biggest wharves in the country. Free use of it for over 10 years. And we can’t get the eviction notice completed.
“It’s time the courts step up. And I spoke to the Attorney General. He needs to speak about these matters publicly. I shouldn’t have to. He’s defending the interest of the taxpayers in the country. And fairness in the system. How come these cases are just languishing all the time? Major, major cases. They’re just languishing in the system. Now you’ve hired more judges. We’re going to hire more appeal court judges.”
The elections fraud trials, for several individuals facing charges of alleged irregularities during the general elections in 2020, commenced on July 29, 2024. Being heard before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, the trial was expected to run from July 29 to September 13, but only three hearings have been completed.
The matter was initially deferred to August 5, but the parties were informed that the presiding magistrate was out sick and the matter would be heard the following day. However, they were subsequently told that the magistrate had been placed on 30 days of sick leave.
When the matter was supposed to have resumed on September 17, it was revealed that the matter had again been adjourned to October 31, 2024. Since this is a holiday, the case is expected to be heard on Friday, with the proviso that if Magistrate Daly is again unavailable, the case would be transferred to another Magistrate.
Nine persons are before the court in relation to the electoral fraud case. They are former Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; his former Deputy, Roxanne Myers; former People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings. They are facing 28 charges relating to electoral fraud.
Among the offences these defendants are accused of committing are: misconduct while holding public office; presenting falsified documentation; and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total.
These charges stem from attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then ruling APNU/AFC. The election report of former CEO Lowenfield claimed that the APNU/AFC Coalition garnered 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C gained 166,343 votes.
How he arrived at those figures is still unknown, since the certified results from the recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) pellucidly showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes, while the coalition garnered 217,920. (G3)