…for elections
And here we were taught that courts were established to settle conflict and differences and deliver justice to the wronged party!! But on this NCM fiasco, we’ve now learnt that they can be used to drag out conflict to such an extent that the party initiating the conflict becomes the victor by default. And the wronged party is left holding wood! This usually happens when folks who have no regard for the rule of law and its conventions are involved. They misuse the rules of the court to wage a guerrilla war to subvert justice from being done.
The PNC has now said they’ll be appealing the Chief Justice’s ruling on the legality of the H2H brought by one of the plaintiffs in her first ruling on the NCM. The latter case went to the Appellate Court on plea of the PNC and then the CCJ – and the H2H was introduced as a delaying tactic to subvert the spirit and letter of Art 106 (6) and (7). That the Cabinet and President SHALL resign immediately and elections be held within 3 months.
So if the CJ doesn’t rule in their favour of H2H, and the PNC goes the appeal route in will come the Appellate Court on the PNC’s second plea and then onto the CCJ in a never-ending merry-go-round!! In the meantime, the bases of the two parties are becoming increasingly polarised and testy. So it’s quite possible that the PNC might not take that road – but the one more travelled by them over the years: violence by their street forces in Georgetown.
Right now, the latter are so stirred up by the “perfidy” of the PPP, AG Basil Williams blurted out to the diplomatic corps and the business community that mayhem will be almost certainly be unleashed on the PPP’s constituency’s bodies and businesses. This warning would’ve almost certainly been noticed by Justice George, so will she factor in the “societal” impact of her decision to trump the legal imperatives?? It would’ve also been heard by Justice (retired) Claudette Singh from her new perch as GECOM Chair. Will the threat also have a chilling effect on her??
The Opposition Leader has gone the extra mile in heeding the CCJ’s advice for the political stakeholders to show some integrity and reach consensus on the way forward. He met Granger and not only reached agreement on the GECOM Chair, but met him again on his elections intransigence.
However, the PNC’s threat to appeal an adverse court decision on H2H – or engage in violent protests in 1997 – does not demonstrate them being possessed in the slightest degree of that quality.
Brute force and ignorance time?
…for Cabinet v Government status
David Granger and his PNC cohorts have been playing the fool on Article 106 (6) – contra posing the “President and Cabinet” – which has to resign after the NCM’s passing— and Art 106 (7) which says the “government” continues until a new one in sworn in after elections. Some say they’re linguistically challenged – as they were mathematically with their “63 not the majority of 65”! But your Eyewitness wouldn’t have any truck with that!
Having participated in crafting that Article, the PNC knows as well as anyone else that we’re following hundreds of years of tradition in the parliamentary tradition of Britain. The Cabinet and President/Prime Minister resigning “immediately” all have to do with the fact that elections follow as soon as possible – almost always less than three months.
On March 28, 1979, the Labour Govt of James Callahan was defeated by a NCM… he immediately resigned; Parliament was dissolved on April 7, and elections held on May 3!!
Therefore, there’s no “vacuum” in Government – which doesn’t skip a beat!!
…for rains
When he was a callow youth, your Eyewitness learnt that while we never had a summer, the mid-year rainy season was in “May-June”.
So why in August, the raindrops keep falling on his head?
