– expresses fear Opposition will continue to use one-seat majority to violate spirit, letter of Constitution
ATTORNEY General, Anil Nandlall fears that, unless the court intervenes and guides the National Assembly, the opposition parties will continue to use their single-seat majority to violate the spirit and letter of the Constitution of Guyana in constituting the remaining committees of the National Assembly disproportionally. As Minister of Legal Affairs, he was speaking at the closing stages of his motion, which was introduced to ensure that all Standing Committees and Special Select Committees of the National Assembly of the 10th   Parliament of Guyana be constituted in proportion to the number of seats which each political party was allocated in the National Assembly based upon the results of the National and General Elections held on November 28th, 2011, and in accordance with the provisions of Articles 60 and 160 of the Constitution of Guyana and the provisions of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2000.
Speaking on the motion and on the affidavit in support of the motion, the A.G. declared that the composition of the Committee of Selection of the 10th Parliament of Guyana, which was done by an election of voting from the floor of the National Assembly on 10th day of February 2012, and by which the said committee was thereby composed as follows: PPP/C – 4 members; A Partnership For National Unity – 4 members; and Alliance For Change – 1 member, is in violation of the principle of proportionality as contemplated by Articles 60 and 160 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2000.
The A.G. noted that the Opposition in Parliament had used its strategy to set up a nine-member Selection Committee, as against a 10-member, as recommended by the Government.

With 166,340 votes in favour of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC), Nandlall said that gave them 32 seats or 49.2 percent of the popular vote under the electoral system of Proportional Representation (PR). He said A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) got 40.4 percent and Alliance For Change (AFC) 10.8 percent.

According to Mr. Nandlall, this composition of the committee violates the principle of proportionality as contemplated by the Constitution, since, in the configuration; the PPP/C with 32 seats has the same representation in the committee as APNU, who only secured 26 seats.

“Therefore, the PPP/C has only 44.44% representation with 32 seats, and APNU has the same 44.44% representation, but with only 26 seats, leading to a disproportionality of almost five seats.
“I fear that unless this Honourable Court intervenes and guides the National Assembly, the Opposition will continue to use their single-seat majority to violate the spirit and the letter of the Constitution in constituting the remaining Committees of the National Assembly disproportionally.
“As the higher guardian of the Constitution and the branch of Government responsible for ensuring that the Legislature acts intra vires and in compliance with the Constitution, I humbly pray that the reliefs set out in the Notice of Motion be granted,” the Attorney General declared yesterday.
Present at yesterday’s hearing with the A.G. were Senior Counsel Mr. Ashton Chase, and Deputy Solicitor General Mr.  Nareshwar Harnanan.
Lawyers representing Mr. David Granger, Leader of the list of  Candidates of A Partnership for National Unity, and Leader of the Opposition; and Raphael Trotman, Leader of the list of candidates of the Alliance For Change and Speaker of the National Assembly, were Mr. Basil Williams, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan,  Mr. Roysdale Forde, and Mr. Llewellyn John.
Further hearing continues on Friday next.