This ‘comedy’ is no longer a laughing matter!

Dear Editor,
The Coalition Government should be nominated for the Best Comedian Award at the next Oscar Awards Ceremony, and I am sure they will outclass all the others by miles!
Firstly, they refused to accept a matter of simple mathematics; not calculus or trigonometry, but simple arithmetic. It was a matter of simply finding the majority of 65. Even a Grade 5 student would have told them that the answer is 33, and not 34.
The erudite and learned Senior Council Mr Nigel Hughes bewildered the Attorney General, another ‘learned’ Senior Council, (and that was effortless) into believing that the majority is 34, and not 33, as is succinctly outlined in our Constitution. Even though the learned High Court Judge ruled that it is 33, they had to take it to our Appeal Court to make the 34 stand, albeit temporarily. It did appease them for a while after a much controversial decision granted in their favour; it was 2 to 1 in favour.
Maybe some judges need to be nominated into that category as well!
Our final Court of Appeal, the Caribbean Court of Justice, ultimately made minced meat of our ‘learned Attorney General and his legal team. The decision was a historic landmark which will forever be etched in the legal annals, since it once and for all shattered the nonsensical argument that 34 is the majority of 65.
The Coalition’s team also took a sound trashing in constitutional law and jurisprudence. It not only taught Basil Williams and Nigel Hughes basic arithmetic, but gave them a lesson in a simple and literal meaning of Article 106 (6) of our Constitution.
But this scenario is not the only reason for the Oscar nomination.
Secondly, one would have thought that after the legal trashing by the CCJ, the Coalition would have sharpened up their basic English skills. But that did not materialise. It seemed as though the mindset of the Attorney General is rooted in absolute ignorance of the literal interpretation of Constitutional laws. But alas! Not only him, but ‘learned’ lawyers in the Coalition, such as Nagamootoo and Ramjattan!
These should be nominated for comedians in a supporting role! They do not seem to understand that our Constitution already provided a 3-month time period wherein General and Regional Elections must be called after the date of successful passing of the no-confidence motion (NCM). There is no compromise, unless a two-thirds majority agrees to extend this timeline, which is an absolute impossibility! The Opposition is simply not interested.
But the comical theatrics did not stop there. Ramjattan had to make himself a mockery when he told Berbicians that the President should submit a list of nominees for the GECOM Chair, and that since the Leader of the Opposition rejected Granger’s list, then Jagdeo is not acting in ‘good faith’! He kept chattering about ‘consensuality’ and ‘hammering’ out a positive outcome, but Ramjattan failed to realise that there is an Article in our Constitution which provides for the process which must be adhered to, and the CCJ made this clear: that ‘consensuality’ should be in accordance with that Article.
Nothing outside of that was recommended, as Ramjattan wants Berbicians to believe. This man should stop thinking that he is the only ‘bright boy’ Berbice produced! Article 161(2) should be ‘hammered’ into his senses. It provided the steps in this process, wherein it is the Leader of the Opposition who must provide the names of the nominees and, if rejected, it is the President who must, according to the CCJ, provide reasons for his rejection. It must be recalled that Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire had likewise so adjudicated.
Moreover, the President is bound to do so, having now regard for the 3-month time limit. Any attempt to stall and frustrate the speedy appointment of the Chairman is unconstitutional and against the ruling of the CCJ.
Lastly, what makes this comedy more laughable is that these comedians failed to realise that house-to-house registration, apart from being unwarranted, will not be in accordance with the 3-month time limit; therefore, any continuance with this process is in complete defiance of the CCJ’s ruling: that General and Regional Elections must be held within 3 months, as per our Constitution.
This is an election for which GECOM had since 21 December, 2018 to prepare. It is time for Granger to select the GECOM Chairman from the list provided by Jagdeo; someone who is ‘not unacceptable’ to him, and announce the date for elections. This ‘comedy’ is no longer a laughing matter! Ramjattan should quit his asinine statements to Berbicians!

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf