Parliament resumes today after 467 days
The Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) where the 12th Parliament will commence today
The Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) where the 12th Parliament will commence today

TODAY, for the first time in 467 days or over one year, the Government of Guyana will return to Parliament under new circumstances and in recovery from a five-month-long electoral process, which made headlines across the world.

Members of Parliament (MPs) will, this time, take to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) today, an alternative to the Parliament Building Chambers and the best solution for engagement during a world health crisis which has killed almost one million people globally.

It is only the second time that this change of venue has occurred, having first being required in 2002 when then President Bharrat Jagdeo issued a proclamation designating that the National Assembly meet at the Ocean View Convention Centre while renovations to the Public Buildings were ongoing.

Under the new arrangement and likely another first, several MPs are to participate in the proceedings online, from home due to health-related concerns. Even so, and apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, normal circumstances did not lead to the hiatus of Parliament being held.

The last Parliament held was the 115th Sitting of the 11th Parliament which occurred on May 23, 2019. This Sitting, along with the three previous, was boycotted by the then opposition which was displeased with the continuance of operations of the APNU+AFC Government after it had been legally booted by a no-confidence motion.

The matter dates back to December 21, 2018, one of the most dramatic moments in Guyana’s history, when a no-confidence motion brought against the APNU+AFC Government proved successful after one of their own members crossed the floor to side with the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

The motion, laid in the name of then Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, had blared on its cover: “BE IT RESOLVED that this National Assembly has no confidence in the government”. It was the party’s position that the APNU+AFC Administration was damaging the country’s future and an end should be put to its leadership.

THE FAMOUS “YES”

Shouts erupted that night in the National Assembly as colleagues of the former AFC Member, Charrandas Persaud, begged him to vote “no” to the motion as opposed to the “yes” he uttered twice.

“We ‘dropped the ball’ by not treating this seriously enough, and by failing to recognise that one of our own could vote in favour of the motion,” then Leader of the AFC, Raphael Trotman, said then in reflection.

It was the turning point for the country and would lead to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, but not after a slew of court battles climbing all the way up to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and seeking to deem the motion as invalidly passed.

Legal minds debated the 65-member government and what constitutes a vote of “majority” if the uneven figure, when divided, stands at 32.5 — supposedly “half a member” which is evidently impossible.

It was also debated whether Charrandass, a dual citizen of both Guyana and Canada, was legally a Member of the National Assembly.

The no-confidence motion was upheld by the High Court on January 31, 2019 but on March 22, 2019, the Court of Appeal, by a two-one majority, invalidated the motion on the basis that an absolute majority was not acquired.

It was not until June 18, 2019 that the CCJ – Guyana’s final appellate court – validated the no-confidence motion. In handing down its consequential order on July 12, 2019, the CCJ stated clearly that the government, as a result of the passage of the no-confidence motion, will remain in office, though on a different footing, until a new President is sworn-in.

The CCJ’s finality on the matter cleared the way for the elections to be called and all eyes turned to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) which, at the time, was without a chairperson.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL APPOINTMENT

Guyana’s Parliament building

On June 25, 2019, former GECOM Chairman, Justice (Ret’d), James Patterson, stepped down from the post after the CCJ ruled that his appointment by former President Granger was “flawed” and thereby unconstitutional. The matter had taken on its own string of legal battles.

On July 26, 2019, about a month later, renowned legal luminary, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, was selected by former President Granger to be the Chairperson, ending weeks of back and forth between the then opposition leader and President over the best possible pick.

That same month, the commission commenced its pre-planned house-to-house registration which made a timeline for the elections uncertain. Added to this, faced with its own financial and technical challenges, in September 2019, GECOM informed former President Granger, for the very first time since the motion, that it wouldn’t be in a position to conduct credible elections until the end of February, 2020.

As such, on December 27, former President Granger ordered that the 11th Parliament and the 10 Regional Democratic Councils be dissolved on December 30, 2019, thereby paving the way for General and Regional Elections on March 2, 2020.

THE FIVE-MONTH FIASCO
From March 2, to August 2, 2020, the now well-ventilated stages of the elections took place from E-Day, to the count, to the national recount, to the exhaustive recourse sought through the courts and the final declaration made.

Newly-elected President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali, announced in August that the 12th Parliament would commence today, September 1, 2020.

Apart from the $11.2 billion for constitutional agencies for which approval will be sought, a new Speaker of the National Assembly and Deputy Speaker will also be elected. The former Speaker of the National Assembly is Dr. Barton Scotland but there was no Deputy Speaker under the APNU+AFC as, though it is protocol for the opposition to nominate the same, the PPP/C did not do so in 2015.

Meanwhile, the new Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon, is also expected to be sworn in and will likely give a statement. He and his colleagues will form a group that is called the ‘shadow Cabinet’.

Parliament is one of three supreme organs of democratic power in Guyana. It consists of the President and the National Assembly and has power to make laws for the peace, order and good Government of Guyana.

It was created by the 1966 Constitution of Guyana, embodied in the Schedule of the Guyana Independence Order and made pursuant to the Guyana Independence Act, 1966. The first Sitting of the National Assembly of the first Parliament of Guyana was held on the May 26, 1966.

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