During the APNU/AFC’s official 2020 elections campaign launch at D’Urban Park on January 3, President David Granger is reported as saying that if the coalition were to win the upcoming March 2 polls, his Government will target constitutional provisions for a No-Confidence Motion (NCM).
The State newspaper quoted him as saying, “We are going to reform the Constitution so that the nonsense they tried with us over the last 12 months does not happen again.” The “they” referred to the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
Given what was reported, it becomes extremely worrying that the Head of State would refer to the democratic application of enshrined articles of the country’s Constitution as nonsense. His utter disdain for the validly passed December 21, 2018, NCM, as upheld by the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chief Justice and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), is now common knowledge.
He did not mince words on his dissatisfaction and his government’s resort to the courts to have the NCM motion overturned speaks volumes of his desire to not accept constitutional and democratic processes.
It is also common knowledge that the President defied constitutional procedures and unilaterally appointed Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The CCJ subsequently ruled that his action was unconstitutional and Justice Patterson resigned.
The President’s action over time with regard to the Constitution demonstrates a seeming misinterpretation which many believe may be deliberate to realise his desires. What resulted from that directly conflicted with the Constitution and the rule of law. Justice Patterson’s appointment and refusal to abide by the validly-passed NCM are glaring examples.
If there was any doubt, his latest indication to once again target the Constitution with regard to provisions for an NCM further confirms his and the APNU/AFC’s reluctance to respect what is enshrined. In addition, it speaks to a more sinister plan that, in the event the coalition is re-elected following the March 2 elections, it will endeavour to deny Guyanese their democratic and constitutional option of holding the Government accountable through the means of an NCM.
When that is examined in its entirety, it becomes extremely difficult not to conclude that APNU/AFC is bent on denuding the Constitution to safeguard its hold on power if re-elected. In other words, the President’s utterances unambiguously speak to a dictatorship.
The two examples cited could have only been realised through dictatorial tendencies. Yet, in his said address at the campaign launch, he was quoted by the State newspaper as saying, “We are a constitutional government…everything we have done for the last 12 months was in accordance with the law and in accordance with the Constitution”.
The President’s actions and those of the APNU/AFC could only render such a statement as grossly hypocritical. That aside, the totality of what the President and the coalition would have done since 2015 with regard to the Constitution shows contempt for the rule of law with an unbridled tendency to defy the tenets of democracy.
Again, if there is any doubt, the history the People’s National Congress (PNC), which is the lead party in the coalition and which ruled oppressively for almost three decades, will reveal the dictatorial characteristic that suppressed democracy during that period.
President Granger has been the Leader of the PNC for about a decade now. His actions over the past four and a half years as President seem to suggest that his party’s historical authoritarian disposition remains a hallmark. His remarks in question make it virtually impossible to believe otherwise.
That, therefore, has serious implications for Guyana which is now an oil-producing nation. With democracy being put on notice to be threatened, fears of a repeat of what occurred under the past PNC government’s oppressive rule, are real. Fear, sadly, returned after 2015 as a result of Mr Granger and APNU/AFC’s wanton disregard for the Constitution.
That fear has since been exacerbated by the recent brazen attacks on PPP’s supporters in Laing Avenue and in other parts as those Guyanese endeavoured to bring awareness to their Party’s election campaign. A few had to seek medical attention. Those unprovoked actions by persons believably affiliated to APNU/AFC are not just an assault on PPP supporters but on democracy as a whole.
From all appearances, there has been no condemnation of that attack coming from the President or a direct public message to his supporters for them not to engage in such acts. That, along with the President’s and APNU/AFC’s refusal to abide by the Constitution, evident by the unilateral appointment of Justice Patterson and its actions to invalidate the NCM, exemplify the assault of democracy.
The President’s remarks to target constitutional provisions for the NCM, therefore, speak to a most ominous future if the coalition were to win come March 2. The Constitution is expected to safeguard democracy and freedoms. By threatening to strip it, the President may have hinted of his desire to strip Guyanese of their enshrined rights.
