…AG says gov’t will respect decisions

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams said the Government will abide by the decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in Tuesday’s landmark cases.
The court ruled that the No-Confidence Motion against the Government last December was validly passed, and also, that the appointment of Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson as Chairman of GECOM, a breach of the Constitution.

The Attorney General assured reporters that Government will abide by the decisions of the Trinidad-based CCJ. “It is the ruling of the final court, and as we said previously, we accept the ruling.” Williams told reporters while standing outside of the Court of Appeal. A majority of lawyers in the two cases had gathered at the Court of Appeal to witness, via a webcam, the delivery of the judgments. The Attorney General noted that he was scheduled to meet with President David Granger to discuss the outcome of the cases.

Senior Counsel Neil Boston, who is among attorneys representing Compton Reid in the No-Confidence Motion case, expressed his disappointment in the decision of the CCJ.

“I thought that we had winnable arguments,” Boston told reporters. He noted that the CCJ ruled that it lack the jurisdiction to hear and rule on issues relating to Charrandass Persaud’s perceived disqualification from the Parliament of Guyana. Persaud, who before being recalled from Parliament voted to bring down its own Government, is a dual citizen.

Reid, through his lawyers, had argued that Persaud was a usurper, and was in clear breach of the Constitution on the night of December 21, 2018, but the CCJ ruled that the matter ought to have been placed before the court within 28 days of Persaud’s election to the House in keeping with the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act.

Roysdale Forde, the attorney representing Joseph Harmon, also expressed his disappointment. “We felt that our arguments were sound and ought to have been upheld by the court but that is the position of the court, and we have to return on the 24th (June),” Forde said.

Christopher Ram’s Attorney, Kamal Ramkarran, upon exiting the Court of Appeal, suggested that General Elections should be held within 28 days but Forde shot down this proposal, saying parties in the matter must put forward practicable proposals on the way forward. “If we are talking about practicality and what is reasonable, I can’t see how that could ever be possible, having regard to the system and what needs to be done,” Forde said.

Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall, who is representing the Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, said he was pleased with the ruling, and appreciative of the opportunity given by the court to the parties involved.

“Fortunately, the court in its wisdom has seen it fit to fix a date and time for us to at least try and come back and work out some kind of arrangements in terms of the consequential orders. I think the court has made a clear hint of where it is going in the absence of an agreement in that respect,” Nandlall told reporters.

He noted that in the absence of an agreement, the Court will have to make the consequential orders as it sees fit.

Persaud’s Attorney, Sanjeev Datadin said his client is pleased with the decisions of the CCJ. “We have been saying all along, I think everybody in Prep ‘B’ knows that 33 is the lowest minimum of 65. Reason has been restored to its throne. We had also argued that if you want to challenge my client Mr. Charrandass’ appointment in the Parliament, you had 28 days which to do,” Datadin said.

He said hopefully, the parties can agree on a new chairman for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to facilitate early elections. He said Persaud, who fled to Canada after voting to bring down the government, will one day return ‘home’.