Legal fraternity warns of constitutional deadline for new Govt by month-end

…tells GECOM no elections result 6 weeks later is disgraceful, inexcusable
…failure to abide has far-reaching consequences nationally, internationally

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 General and Regional Elections of March 2, 2020.
They say the absence of a declared result some six weeks after the General and Regional Elections were held is — in addition to being outside of the statutory prescribed period — 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 Bar Association has since expressed its concern by reminding 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.”
GECOM Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, is expected to pronounce today on the final modalities to be adopted by the Commission in regard to recounting the ballots cast in the elections.
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.
According to the Bar Association, “The Constitution of Guyana is the supreme law of Guyana, to which all persons and bodies are subject. Timelines laid down by the Constitution are not merely matters of principle, which one can simply choose to abide by or ignore. The failure to abide by the Constitution has far- reaching consequences, both nationally and internationally, inter alia for good governance and the rule of law”.
In calling for the Commission to execute its mandate with dispatch, the Association reminded that the judicial proceedings that were related to the elections results and the declarations were dealt with dispatch, and that “counsel for all the parties adhered to timelines, and both the High Court and Court of Appeal even sat on Sundays to ensure the timely determination of the matters.”
According to the Association, the integrity of any system is only as good as the integrity of the persons who operate the system”, and the “recent open disregard for truth and decency by certain members of the GECOM Secretariat leaves a feeling of great distaste in the mouths of ordinary Guyanese, who have been subjected to scorn, disdain and ridicule by the rest of the world even as we struggle to come to terms with the COVID-19 disaster.”
The Bar Association, in its appeal, said the constitutional clock is ticking and there two weeks left before Guyana delves further into the constitutional abyss to which the country was pushed by GECOM on March 21, 2019 when it failed to hold General and Regional Elections within the constitutionally mandated period on the valid passing of the ‘No Confidence Motion’ on December 21, 2018.
“The Bar Council urges GECOM and its Secretariat to put aside the imbroglio of the last six weeks by ending the impasse over results with a declaration that permits the Constitution to be honoured and provides the people of Guyana with a freely and fairly elected Government.”