– if Jagdeo continues to threaten public servants

EVER since the political fallout began in the wake of the contentious passage of the no-confidence motion he successfully brought against the government, Leader of the Opposition,Bharrat Jagdeo, has been subtly threatening those public servants who continue to dutifully report for duty and carry out their daily functions as is expected of them.

Jagdeo has on several occasions warned that either public servants desist from doing their jobs altogether, or that they do so judiciously.

Needless to say, his actions have not gone unnoticed where it matters most, and were roundly condemned on Friday by Minister of State Joseph Harmon during his weekly post- Cabinet media briefing, now officially referred to as post-ministerial plenaries.

“Jagdeo needs to understand that he is not the President and that the government will not sit on its hands while employees are being threatened,” Minister Harmon said, adding that when Jagdeo calls on public servants not to act in accordance with their contracts and terms of services, he is basically calling for people to rebel against the state.
“His statements are bordering other legalities,” he said, adding: “I do hope he will be able to deal with any consequence that comes out of his statements “once he crosses the border.” Minister Harmon also made the point that public servants are employed by the state and not by Jagdeo.

Despite widespread claims in some quarters that the government is unconstitutional and should resign, Minister Harmon assured media operatives that the government is still legal, because the validity of the no-confidence motion is being challenged in the courts.

ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD
At the level of the High Court, Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, in upholding the Speaker’s decision that the no-confidence motion was validly passed, said that Cabinet is separate from government and should resign. The chief justice, in her ruling, said that 33 persons are the majority of the elected Members of Parliament.

On the issue of dual citizenship, the chief justice also ruled that the vote of former APNU+AFC MP Charrandass Persaud was valid, even though he was occupying a seat in the National Assembly illegally or against constitutional provisions of the state.
Attorney General Basil Williams subsequently applied for a stay of the judgment passed by the chief justice, as well as a conservatory order for the government to remain in office until the appeals are heard.

The attorney general had told reporters that government “is going all the way,” as he noted that the case will be appealed all the way to the CCJ. “There is nothing to panic about or nothing to worry about. We haven’t lost an election, we will go through the court system,” he said.