President cannot unilaterally set election date – AG tells Karasabai residents
Attorney General Basil Williams speaks at the meeting at Karasabai
Attorney General Basil Williams speaks at the meeting at Karasabai

ATTORNEY General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams said President David Granger cannot fix an election date unless he is advised by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

“The President really and truly cannot fix an election date unless he is advised by the chairman of GECOM that they are in a position to run off this election,” the attorney general said, as he addressed more than 300 residents on Sunday, in the village of Karasabai, located in the South Pakaraimas mountains.

Since the December 21, vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly, the Opposition has been calling for President David Granger to set a date for General Elections within the 90-day timeframe as stipulated by the Constitution of Guyana. The government and other interested parties have challenged the validity of the “passed motion.”

However, at the level of GECOM, the six commissioners, drawn from the government and the opposition, remain at loggerhead on the commission’s state of readiness. The secretariat, headed by the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, has indicated that it is ready to be operationalised but it must receive approval and directives from the commission, chaired by Justice (ret’d) James Patterson.

“It would be fool hardy to say hold elections in three months, without consulting GECOM, to know whether GECOM could deliver,” Minister Williams told the residents.

He said that GECOM has indicated since 2014, that any sudden elections would require at least six months. In addition to that, he said, in 2018, without any knowledge of a no-confidence motion, the GECOM budgeted $3B for the conduct of House-to-House Registration to produce a new Official List of Electors.
“This House-to-House Registration is to clean up that list and to add to the list those young people who have turned 18 since the 2015 elections, and young people as you know are the future of tomorrow, they are the majority in our population, and it would be unconstitutional for you to deprive them of their franchise,” he said.
Minister Williams added that the national registration process will also see a removal of persons who are now deceased, and inclusion of young eligible voters. As it is, he said “the list is a dirty list and it has to be cleansed”.

APPEAL
Explaining that,although the Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire has upheld the ruling of the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Barton Scotland, that the motion was carried by a majority vote, the government and other parties have appealed the High Court’s decision on the ground that 34 constitute an absolute majority and not 33. The Government, he noted, has also asked the Appellate Court to stay the decision of the High Court, and to grant a conservatory order to preserve the status quo ante of the Government, the Cabinet and all its ministers, until a final determination by the courts. He noted, too, that while the Appeal Court will rule on the matter, it is the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that will issue the final ruling in the matter which has gripped the nation’s attention.

Minister Williams said that contrary to the utterances of the opposition, the Constitution does not stipulate that the government must resign at this stage, in light of the ‘perceived defeat.’

“There cannot be any vacuum in government, so the government will continue in office,” he said. Article 106 (7) states, that notwithstanding its defeat, the government shall remain in office until a new President is sworn in.

“So the framers of the Constitution have provided the solution in the event that a situation like this occurs. There is nothing in the Constitution like interim government and caretaker government and all that nonsense,” Minister Williams told the residents.

He emphasised that the doctrine of necessity would never allow for the country to be without a government in place. At this stage, he said it is important for the Opposition to get together with the Government and have consultations with GECOM on the best possible date. He said both the Government and the Opposition would need to return to Parliament to extend the date for elections, through a vote by a two-thirds majority in the House.

Whenever those elections are held, the citizens of Guyana should elect leaders that would manage the resources, particularly its oil and gas, effectively and efficiently to the benefit of the people. He said the APNU+AFC Government in under four years in office, and has shown its ability to manage the country’s resources, and attract much-needed investors. The transformation has started, and the David Granger administration should be allowed to complete the work it has started.

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