…High Court to hear arguments on legality of House-to-House on Friday

SENIOR Counsel Stanley Marcus said it is hypocritical for Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall, through his client Christopher Ram, to file legal actions against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and then cry foul when Elections Commission hires an attorney to fight its case in the High Court in the absence of a Chairman.

“GECOM must get a chance to defend itself,” Senior Counsel Marcus told Guyana Chronicle, while standing on the corridors of the High Court on Tuesday, after attending a case management session with Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire and other parties in the matter.

GECOM, on Monday, in a Notice of Application, asked the High Court for Chief Justice George-Wiltshire to recuse herself from the House-to-House Registration case brought against the elections body by Ram. That matter, along with the Notice of Application filed by the Attorney General Basil Williams asking the High Court to strike out Ram’s case,

would be heard on Friday, in addition to the substantive matters. In the substantive case, Ram is challenging the constitutionality of the on-going House-to-House Registration, on the grounds that it is in violation of Article 106 (6) and Article 106 (7) of the Constitution, and the letter and spirit of the Judgment and Consequential Orders of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the consolidated appeals.

But ahead of the court hearing, Nandlall, in a statement on Monday, questioned who authorised Marcus to represent the Elections Commission. “I have consulted with at least three commissioners of GECOM and have been advised that a) GECOM has not met since 11th June, 2019; b) Mr. James Patterson officially demitted office on 24th June 2019; and c) the new Chairman is yet to Commission a meeting with the Commissioners. In the circumstances, I feel compelled to ask, who retained and authorised Mr. Stanley Marcus to file this application? It certainly cannot be GECOM,” Nandlall said in the statement.

But on Tuesday, Senior Counsel Marcus said it is Nandlall who must be asked why he chose to file a legal challenge against GECOM when it did not have a chairman. GECOM’s Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh was appointed on Monday July 2019.

“Ask him why is it he sued GECOM when it didn’t have a chairman? What he expected them to do, sit down and let him get a default judgment? That is not how the legal system works. The legal system gives everybody a chance to be heard, and if you file an action when they didn’t have a chairman you must anticipate that they will defend it with or without a chairman,” the Senior Counsel reasoned. He emphasised that in such matters with national implications, one cannot allow for a default judgment.

Like the Attorney General, Senior Counsel Marcus questioned the rationale behind challenging the constitutionality of House-to-House Registration when the CCJ has ruled that it cannot issue coercive orders directing the President, the National Assembly, and implicitly GECOM on how they should act.

“This matter went to the Caribbean Court of Justice, and the Caribbean Court of Justice was asked to name a date within three months of their judgment for elections to be held and to stop the House-to-House Registration, they got neither, and so they can’t say that GECOM was unsuccessful. GECOM was able to come back and resume its work,” the Senior Counsel told this newspaper.

The Attorney General, in his Notice of Application filed on Monday, asked the Court not to exercise its jurisdiction to hear or grant the Orders sought in the Fixed Date Application (FDA) filed by Ram. Alternatively, he has asked for an order striking out the FDA on the grounds that it is an abuse of the process of the Court.

Justifying his position, the Attorney General explained that Ram was party to the consolidated appeals heard in the Trinidad-based CCJ – Guyana’s final appellate court – for which all the matters relative to the No-Confidence Motion, Election, and GECOM’s ability to hold election were addressed. In particular, among the orders sought from the CCJ, was one intended to have the now expired official list of electors used in the pending elections but this was not granted.

Outside of the courtroom, the Attorney General, who also attended the case management session along with a battery of lawyers, maintained his position on the FDAs brought before the Court by Ram.

He reiterated that issues brought to the High Court by Ram have been litigated at Guyana’s apex court – the CCJ, and it cannot be re-litigated. “To re-litigate a matter that was dealt with finality by the CCJ, obviously also would offend that rule,” Williams explained.
He added: “We are satisfied

that these matters that they are now raising again have been dealt by the CCJ.”

The Attorney General was represented by the Solicitor General Nigel Hawke while Senior Counsel Marcus represented GECOM. Senior Counsel Neil Boston represented the Chief Elections Officer and the Commissioner of National Registration, Keith Lowenfield.

Inside the courtroom, Justice George-Wiltshire, in the case management session, set timelines for written submissions by parties in the matter. All submissions are required to be made by 11:30hrs on August 2, 2019. The consolidated cases would be later that day at 13:30hrs.