Opposition rules out extending life of Govt

…Jagdeo willing to meet President
…slams AG for misleading CCJ

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has made it clear that the Parliamentary opposition will not be extending the coalition Government’s time in office, almost eight months after the Government was defeated by a No Confidence Motion that means President and Cabinet must resign and elections held.

Jagdeo made these comments during a press conference on Monday evening, where he discussed the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) post-judgement hearing earlier in the day. During the hearing, Attorney General Basil Williams had suggested that Parliament could extend the life of the Government.
This is in keeping with Article 106 (6 and 7) of the Constitution, which states that on the passage of a no-confidence motion, elections must be called within three months or at a time agreed to by two-thirds of the National Assembly. But Jagdeo made it clear this was a line he would not cross.

“As (CCJ President) Justice Saunders said, are you asking me to rewrite the constitution? He posed to the other side. And the constitution says once a No confidence motion is validly passed, elections have to be held in three months. And so we are going to insist on that.
Three months to hold elections. We’re already been living on borrowed time in the government, because of the delaying tactics.”
“So effectively, they have had a six months’ grace period so far. And we’re not going to tolerate any continued violation of the constitution. So we will insist on elections in three months. And when I meet with President Granger that is a non-negotiable. What is non-negotiable too is us going back to parliament to extend the life of this government. That’s non-negotiable.”
The Opposition Leader also called out Williams for deliberately misleading the CCJ but saying that the President invited him “forthwith” for a meeting following the court’s ruling on June 17 but the Opposition Leader is yet to respond.
According to Jagdeo, a letter was dispatched to his office and states that he was being invited for a meeting after June 24 consequential ruling. The Opposition Leader made it clear that he has acted in good faith with respect to the CCJ’s directions.
Last week, the CCJ ruled that the no-confidence motion tabled in Guyana’s National Assembly in December, 2018, had been validly passed and therefore general elections must be held within a stipulated timeframe.
But while Granger publicly announced his respect for the CCJ ruling, his Ministers have been less respectful. Government Ministers have, in fact, made statements that defied the CCJ rulings and even the CCJ’s jurisdiction in Guyana… even though Guyana has recognized the court as its final appeals court since 2005.
The first such statements were made by Finance Minister Winston Jordan. According to Jordan, the coalition government is not prepared to call elections unless House to House registration is carried out regardless of what the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) or anyone says.
On Friday, Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams rejected the Caribbean Court of Justice’s appellate jurisdiction during a bizarre protest staged by several Government ministers and a few A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) supporters outside the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) headquarters, where they were calling for house-to-house registration before elections are held.
Hastings-Williams voiced her blatant disregard for the CCJ as Guyana’s final court of appeal by saying that that court has no authority to issue any consequential orders on Monday, since Guyana is an independent state with its own laws.
The People’s National Congress (PNC), through General Secretary Amna Ally, have since distanced itself from her comments. But these utterances will raise questions over the government’s commitment to actually comply with the CCJ and exercise good faith in talks with the parliamentary opposition.
GECOM
When it comes to Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman, retired Justice James Patterson, Jagdeo made it clear that he would not countenance his continued presence at the commission. According to Jagdeo, Patterson has to go.
“The second issue we have clarity on is that the Chairman was unconstitutionally appointed and as of now, he should not make any decision in relation to elections. In fact, this is a former Justice and if decency prevailed, by now he should have demitted office.”
“But he continues to hang on there, although the highest court of Guyana has ruled that his appointment was unconstitutional and illegal,” Jagdeo told the media during the press conference.
According to Jagdeo, GECOM’s independence and professionalism is suspect as long as Patterson remains ensconced as Chairman. He noted that since the No confidence motion was passed in December of last year, GECOM has failed to carry out its mandate thanks to the machinations of political appointees.
“We had the PRO from GECOM say they can be ready at any time. The CEO of GECOM said the list is clean.
These comments have been in the public domain. But why do we see now, suddenly, the staff wavering? Because we have three political commissioners and a politically appointed Chairman!”
“Imagine the legal officer, who was appointed by this commission. She gave a legal opinion saying that continuous registration is the only way provided by law to update the voters list.
And immediately (they) started damaging her reputation, because she chose to be professional. So anything you hear about timelines form this commission, until the chairman is removed and you have a credible commission, would be just political pressure from the other side.”
The CCJ had found that Patterson’s appointment was flawed and in breach of the Constitution.
The court also ruled that the President ought to have given the Opposition leader an explanation as to why consecutive lists of nominees for the position of GECOM Chairman were being rejected.a