The courts are independent

Jul 16, 2008 Features / Columnists

The government has always said that the three pillars of the democracy are the Parliament, the State and the Court, and each is independent of the other.

The government cannot dictate to Parliament and vice versa. Neither can either Parliament or the State dictate to the court.

If the records are examined, one would find that the Parliament has done some things that might have not pleased the government and a recent recollection would let people realize that there have been clashes between the Speaker of the National Assembly and some members of the government benches.
The Speaker was elected by the government side but that is as far as any link between the two goes.

The government from time to time has voiced its objection to certain things that the National Assembly has done.

It is the same with the courts. The President has appointed judges but he cannot dictate to them and this is being made clear every day.

A judge ruled that a person cannot perform the duties of Chancellor and Chief Justice. One cannot say that the government was enthused but there was nothing that it could do. It was forced to abide by the ruling.

There have been other rulings, some of which the government contemplated testing but declined because that would have been to suggest that the government always want favourable rulings in the courts.

There have been, too, cases of the courts ordering that the government pay for actions that it took and the government has had no option but to comply.

It is therefore strange that a ruling by the courts this week is being blamed on the government.
Politicians are claiming that the government made an undemocratic move when the police challenged a ruling by a magistrate to grant bail to Mr. Oliver Hinckson.

Indeed, Mr. Hinckson has been attracting the attention of political circles to the point that some of them, particularly the political opposition, have even taken their case to the Heads of Government meeting of Caricom.

Mr. Hinckson has been charged with sedition and with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. He has been granted bail on one and until last weekend, refused bail on the other.

The police decided to challenge the decision of the magistrate to grant bail to Mr. Hinckson. That is their responsibility.

They are the people whose responsibility it is to protect the society so if they feel that keeping Mr. Hinckson incarcerated is best, then they have a right to do whatever they think is necessary to keep someone in a place that would keep that person away from society.

The government had nothing to do with this action and as long as the matter is in court, the government cannot or will not intervene.

But the opposition politicians do not see things this way and they are blaming the government. One political leader decided that the government was most undemocratic because of the action of the police.

But it goes even further; a judge granted an injunction as is his prerogative and again the blame is on the government.

The government has nothing to do with the courts. And to highlight the contradiction, the very judge that has made the order in the case of Mr. Hinckson is the same judge that ruled that the Chancellor could not perform the duties of Chancellor and Chief Justice. And this ruling caused the government to contemplate challenging it.

When the judge made that ruling the opposition proclaimed the independence of the courts. Now they are singing another tune. They seem to see the hand of the government in everything that does find favour with them.

These opposition leaders are doing the same thing in the case of the torture report following an investigation that has been conducted by the Guyana Defence Force.

Indeed the President is the Commander in Chief of the army but the government did not conduct the investigation. Neither did it seek to intervene in the investigation.

The blame game is becoming increasingly popular but it would be in the interest of the country if these opposition leaders would engage the government in dialogue and discussions rather than seeking to lay blame whenever anything happens that does not please them.