Ruling on Parliamentary Secretaries set for April 20

– as lawyers virtually trade blows during hearing

The High Court has set April 20, 2021, to rule on the right of Parliamentary Secretaries to sit in the National Assembly, as a result of a challenge that was filed by the APNU/AFC which was heard on Tuesday by acting Chief Justice Roxane George.
Attorney for the applicant, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde kicked off the virtual proceedings by arguing the unconstitutionality of the secretaries’ appointments. He noted that there are only two ways the secretaries, Sarah Browne and Vickash Ramkissoon, could sit in the National Assembly.

“In one category, you can sit and vote. In the other category, you can sit but not vote. The third and fourth respondents do not fall into either class of category. And there’s nothing in the Constitution or any law that states that by virtue of an appointment of a person who was on a successful list of candidates and not extracted, but they were appointed to the office of Parliamentary Secretary. That by virtue of that appointment, they become a member of the National Assembly,” Forde informed the court.
Attorney General and Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall was of the view that the case is a simple one made complicated by the applicant. He noted that Article 113 and Article 186 make it clear that the President may appoint Parliamentary Secretaries who are elected members or eligible to be elected.

“Article 186 in its simplest language tells us that a Parliamentary Secretary may be appointed from persons who are elected members of the National Assembly or are qualified to be. Sarah Brown and Vickash Ramksisson are elected members of the National Assembly and they were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, pursuant to Article 186 (1),” Nandlall said.
“And they are qualified to be so elected. They are not voting members in the National Assembly. And under our constitutional construct, Parliamentary Secretaries do not vote. In our affidavit, we referred to two historical and verifiable examples of fact.”
Here, he referred to the cases of Pauline Sukhai, now Amerindian Affairs Minister, who was a Member of Parliament and a Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry she now heads. Additionally, current Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton was an MP and a Parliamentary Secretary in the Health Ministry.
Manoj Narayan, who represented Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, meanwhile noted during the presentation of his legal arguments that the idea of Parliamentary Secretaries is inseparable from Parliament.

“I don’t think you can be elected and unelected at the same time. You’re either an elected member, who was appointed a Parliamentary Secretary, or non-elected. And I don’t think Article 186 (3), by giving a right to the non-elected member to sit, takes away the right of the elected member to sit. Because an essential feature of a Parliamentary Secretary is the ability to sit in the National Assembly. And Article 186 (4) supports that contention,” Narayan said. Acting Chief Justice Roxane George ultimately set April 20 at 15:00h to give her ruling.
Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones, the applicant in the case, is contending that the appointments of Browne and Ramkissoon as non-elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and Parliamentary Secretaries to the Amerindian Affairs and Agriculture Ministries, respectively, were done in breach of the Constitution of Guyana.
According to proceedings filed in the High Court, Jones is contending that Browne and Ramkissoon cannot be appointed as non-elected MPs since they were named on the List of Candidates presented by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Noting that Browne and Ramkissoon continue to be members of the National Assembly, Jones is asking the court to grant an order compelling the Speaker of the National Assembly to prevent them from sitting in and participating in the business of the National Assembly.