…refuses to provide proof of citizenship relinquishment to media

LEADER of Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lennox Shuman, is claiming that “political operatives” on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are working to disqualify him from contesting in the upcoming elections and, should they follow through, he will take the commission to court.

However, while he maintained his defence, the party leader has refused to give proof to the media that he was not a dual citizen while signatory to a Statutory Declaration Form which bars against dual citizenship. Commissioners, last week, told the media that Shuman, along with People’s Republic Party (PRP) presidential candidate, Dr. Valerie Leung, and leader of the United Republican Party (URP), Dr. Vishnu Bandhu, would be removed from their lists for making false declarations and the police would be written on the matter.

They were cited as in breach of Article 155 of the Constitution and Statutory Declaration Act, Chapter 5:09, making them liable to imprisonment for one year. Shuman told this newspaper, on Thursday evening, that he had contacted the GECOM Chairperson on the said day, and is convinced that the plans to remove him are not in relation to the law, but personal agendas. “There is no issue with GECOM, that is an issue with the commissioners who are misrepresenting GECOM,” Shuman said. “The political operatives on the commission [are the ones] making those statements but there has been no official statement by GECOM.”

Even so, though pressed by the newspaper, Shuman refused to provide proof that he was indeed no longer a dual citizen when he signed the Statutory Declaration Form for submission on January 10, 2020 – Nomination Day.

Shuman claims that should he provide this proof to the media, this will be misconstrued. “The press has not given me the confidence to go to them. Everything that we’ve presented to the press has been twisted or pushed aside,” he stated. Questioned why not consider holding a press conference to prove his right standing, the LJP leader added: “When we hold press conferences one or two people show up…and most of those are the online guys.”
He also stated that there is no legal requirement for him to provide this proof to GECOM or anyone else and reiterated his position that the unfolding is a personal attack against himself and his party. “At the end of the day, the law must prevail and the law says that this is what is required, we have to do it and we cannot only selectively apply non-existent law to a single candidate when you have 660 other candidates who are not going through the same scrutiny,” he argued.

Shuman said that a public announcement on the matter is expected soon from GECOM, and that will determine whether he would take the matter to court. He stated: “The only and sole institution that is granted that authority is the court under Article 163 of the Constitution, so GECOM is operating outside of its jurisdiction in this process. I’m confident that we have a strong position and once again it is not a matter of presenting a document, it is a matter of selective application of an unnecessary scrutiny that is not governed by any law.” In a recent exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr. Leung also put forward a similar case that that GECOM erred in its decision to remove her from the PRP List of Candidates and that GECOM does not have the right to remove a candidate from its list as the law empowers only the High Court to so do.

She too plans to take the commission to the court should the removal be made publically official by the commission.