CLERK of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs says that the swearing-in of three Government Parliamentarians is quite lawful.However, the Main Opposition party, PPP/C, in a press statement yesterday objected to Minister within the Ministry of Communities Keith Scott, Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs Sydney Allicock and Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix being sworn in as Members of Parliament, contending that to do so would be unlawful.
The PPP/C invoked Articles 103 (3) and 105 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana to support its contention.
But Mr. Isaacs said a thorough examination of Articles 103 (3) and 105 would reveal that they do not adequately define a non-elected member.
“A perusal of the Representation of the People Act (Cap 1:03), and, in accordance with practice, an elected member can be safely defined as a person whose name was extracted from the list of candidates and declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to be a Member of Parliament,” Mr. Isaacs explained.
However, the PPP/C said the Clerk, in discounting its rejection of their swearing-in, observed that once a candidate on an MP list was not originally extracted from their party list and appointed as an elected Member of Parliament, the others automatically become eligible to be appointed Technocratic Ministers by the President.
“The Clerk’s advice is clearly unsound, since as is known, un-extracted lists members are still recognised as elected members of the House and can be extracted and appointed as elected Members of Parliament at any time during the five year-term of the Parliament.
“It is clear that the drafters of the Constitution intended to have different criteria for the designation of other elected or eligible to be elected Members of Parliament,” the main Opposition party said.
Mr Isaacs noted that a person who is on the list (presented by the contesting parties on Nomination Day) and whose name was not extracted and declared by GECOM to be an elected member, can be appointed a non-elected Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary in accordance with Article 104 (3) of the Constitution.
The Clerk pointed out that precedent has also been established on this matter in the 9th and 10th Parliaments in the case of Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, who was on the PPPP/C’s List of Candidates in 2006 and subsequently became a non-elected Speaker of the National Assembly.
“In addition, Mr. Raphael Trotman was on the Alliance For Change List of Candidates in 2011 and was also a non-elected Speaker. I wish to state that, as Clerk of the National Assembly, I will continue to do my job professionally and in accordance with the laws of Guyana,” Mr Isaacs said.