The people have pronounced, courts continue to validate – the Opposition is frivolous

The PNC-led APNU and Opposition in Guyana have resorted to a number of court challenges based on frivolous reasoning. It is clear to all that the PNC-led Opposition has no regard for the Judiciary and keeps occupying them in hearing and ruling on a number of frivolous cases. In all these cases that Judges are ruling over and over on, the Judges issue orders for payment of cost. The PNC-affiliated litigants have been disregarding the ruling for these litigants to pay costs to the Government and to the courts. The Attorney General stated this week that his office will take action in the coming weeks to recover these costs. Unless the AG seriously takes action to recover costs, these frivolous cases would never stop.
A senior Judge this week ruled on a case brought by the Chief Whip of the Opposition in Parliament and a trade unionist with the intention of derailing the Natural Resource Fund (NRF). The NRF was established after Guyana enacted the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 in December 2021. The law was passed on December 29, 2021, to ensure the effective and efficient management of the country’s oil wealth, amid much protest from the Opposition. That was the night when one of the most disgraceful parliamentary events took place in Guyana. On the night of December 29, 2021, Opposition Members of Parliament dislodged the Parliamentary Mace from its position at the desk of the Clerk of the National Assembly and protested in an attempt to prevent the Natural Resource Fund Bill from being passed.
Having broken and taken away the Mace, the Opposition wanted the Judge to legitimise their actions and wanted the Judge to pronounce that the Mace is more important than the Constitution which bestows power onto the Speaker. The Constitution is clear that the Speaker is the person in charge of Parliament and its proceedings. Like all parliaments, Guyana’s Parliament is steeped in rituals and the movement of the MACE is part of the ritual. But the Mace cannot replace the rulings of the Speaker. In dismissing the case, the senior Judge rebuked the plaintiffs who brought the case by stating that “It is illogical to believe that the presence or absence of a length of metal can determine the legitimacy of acts done by persons elected by the citizens of the country pursuant to their elected duties.” The Judge called the attempt to use the Judiciary preposterous and rebuked the two plaintiffs for using the Judiciary to legitimise illegal acts committed by a few misguided “miscreants”.
The “miscreants” had earlier been punished by a constitutionally-sanctioned process in Parliament when they were suspended for their actions on December 29, 2021. They went to court to overturn the parliamentary process. In effect, they tried to place the Judiciary above the Parliament. Even though another Judge was in charge of that case, the Judge also rebuked the “miscreants” for the frivolousness of their case. Carol Joseph on behalf of the PNC had also brought cases to stop LGE 2023. These were also dismissed and the sitting Judge deemed the attempts as frivolous and vexatious.
On March 2, 2020, the people took on an incumbent government and pronounced that they no longer had confidence in them and voted them out. Part of the reasoning was that the then PNC-led APNU/AFC Government seemed to think that frivolous policies could propel Guyana forward. Since August 2020, when the Irfaan Ali-led PPP Government took over, the people of Guyana have seen that the PNC-led APNU and the entire Opposition seem to think they could fool the people by pursuing policies and actions that are frivolous. On June 12, 2023, just over three years since the March 2020 general elections, the Guyanese people again had a chance to tell the PNC-led APNU and the Opposition just what they think of them – frivolous politics will not succeed.
The PNC, more and more, is becoming totally dependent on two things – race-based politics and frivolous grandstanding. The Local Government Elections 2023, held on June 12, made it pellucidly clear that the people of Guyana, in all 610 constituencies, rejected frivolous as a development option and began to question the utility of race-based politics. In all the constituencies where the PNC and its acolytes took for granted that they would continue to enjoy the support of the people because they are Afro-Guyanese, more and more of the Afro-Guyanese population that had given its unconditional support to the PNC began the movement demanding the PNC earn their support.
Thus, many of the people who had given full, unconditional support to the PNC threw their support to the PPP. The PPP gained meaningful support in all the PNC-traditional strongholds, even if not enough to win those constituencies. In what the PNC considered in the past as impenetrable strongholds, where the PPP could not imagine getting beyond the single-digit number of votes, the PPP amassed enough votes in low-turnout Local Government Elections that could earn them two to three more seats in the 2025 general elections.
For those who believe that race-based politics will survive in Guyana, LGE 2023 is a wake-up call. LGE 2023 essentially provided evidence that Guyana is ready to put race-based politics in the garbage dump. The PPP is doing its part to accelerate the movement. Hopefully, some of the newer parties will give support to end the dependency on race-based politics. The PNC appears still hostage to race-based politics. The answer is blowing in the wind when it comes to how long they will hold on to this absurd strategy. But the Guyanese people have pronounced – earn our support, with sound policies and action, not frivolousness and grandstanding.