….matters to be heard in consolidation
….GECOM ordered to be a party in the case

THE Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has set May 10, 2019 as the day for hearings of all the matters relevant to the appeal in the no-confidence motion and it has ordered the Guyana Elections Commission to be a party to the case.

Significantly also, the date for the hearing is after April 30th when the official Voters’ List expires, which will necessitate GECOM conducting house-to-house registration, which that body said it needs nine months to undertake.

On Friday, President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders, during a case management hearing for the case in Trinidad and Tobago, set the timelines for the matters to be heard, as he pointed out the urgency of the case. The CCJ is hearing an appeal to the Court of Appeal’s decision of Friday last, when that court ruled that last December’s no-confidence motion, which was filed in the National Assembly by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, was not validly passed, since it required an absolute majority of 34 votes.

The CCJ is hearing three matters relevant to the no-confidence motion. Attorneys-at-law Kamal Ramkarran and Devindra Kissoon have filed an application seeking special leave to appeal the majority decision of the Court of Appeal to invalidate last December’s no-confidence vote against APNU+AFC government.

The regional court will also hear arguments in an application filed by Attorney Anil Nandlall on behalf of the opposition leader, challenging last Friday’s ruling by the Court of Appeal. Former Member of Parliament, Charrandass Persaud, filed an application though Attorney Sanjeev Datadin, in which he is also challenging the Court of Appeal’s ruling; that 34 votes were required to pass a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams is representing the government along with a battery of lawyers. They include Solicitor General, Nigel Hawke; Senior Counsel, Eamon Courtenay and Senior Counsel, Neil Boston. On Friday, Justice Saunders asked the parties present if there was any objection to the matters being heard in consolidation. Senior Counsel Courtenay said that no one has seen the judgments of the courts here in Guyana. He said the legal team has received the transcripts of the rulings but he noted that the inclination is that there is likely to be cross appeals from the attorney general.

Ramkarran, who is representing Ram, said that he has no objections to the matters being heard in consolidation, however he raised concerns of what the arrangement will have on his application. Justice Saunders said that the CCJ is duty-bound to uphold the rule of law and constitution of Guyana. He said the CCJ is not there to give “all the time that you need,” but to give reasonable time and make submissions, as he pointed to the urgency which characterises the case.

He said the CCJ orders that the matters be heard in consolidation, that they be heard with urgency and that special leave will be granted in each of the cases before the court. On Friday, at the CCJ hearing, Justice Saunders also said that GECOM is a “necessary party in the matters” and as such the court ordered that the commission be joined as a defendant. “If no application had been made to join them by any of the parties, the court of its own motion is ordering that the Guyana Elections Commission be joined as a defendant,” Justice Saunders ordered. Justice Saunders ordered that notice to this effect be served on the electoral body on or before April 5, 2019.

As he set out the timelines, Justice Saunders said that notices of appeal must be filed by all parties by April 1, 2019. Written submissions are to be filed and exchanged by April 17, 2019 and all parties are to file replies by April 23, 2019. A pre-trial session will take place on April 24, 2019. Justice Saunders noted too that on that date, the court will address issues relevant to the order and length of oral submissions. “But I must warn, we have tried to discourage duplication and parties should cooperate with each other,” he said on this issue.

Justice Saunders also urged all counsel in the matter to appear in person at the CCJ. “It would be appropriate that all counsel appear in persons,” he said noting, “it is a matter of extreme importance and the court cannot afford hitches with communications.”

Last Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the no-confidence motion, which was filed in the name of opposition leader last December, was not validly passed in the National Assembly, thereby overturning the High Court’s decision of Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, which was made late in January this year. Before a packed courtroom, Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal, Dawn Gregory, ruled that the opposition needed 34 votes to defeat the government and not 33.

Then on Tuesday, in a press release, Nandlall indicated that a Notice of Application for Special Leave to the CCJ has been filed in the name of the opposition leader on March 26, 2019.

On Tuesday, the Attorney General told the Guyana Chronicle that the Government is ready to defend the decision of the Appellate Court. He added that it might even be necessary for the Government to cross appeal which would see them requesting a review of a lower court’s decision. “We will be there to contest the appeal that will be filed. We will vigorously represent our case,” he said earlier on Tuesday.

Regarding the possibility of cross-appealing, the minister added: “I had raised several issues on whether the three-months was mandatory or directory; the whole question of severing the Cabinet from government and a contention that the President and government could remain in office after the expiration of the three months if no elections was held. We also would challenge [the contention] that it was the government to hold elections instead of GECOM. There are several issues that we could [cross appeal] if it comes to that.”

The attorney general and a battery of lawyers, in a series of arguments, submitted that the three-month provision in the Constitution, which provides for early elections, is not mandatory but rather directory. They argued that the Article 106(7) of the Constitution can only be interpreted as directory since the government has no control over elections. Under the current construct of the Constitution, only Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) can hold and supervise the conduct of elections independently.