GPA violating the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine

Jul 20, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
The media and opposition elements became frantic when President Bharrat Jagdeo, not long ago, expressed concerns over the court’s ruling on how the scrutineers’ funds should be distributed.

And the implication was explicit, too, in that President Jagdeo should not make observations on judicial matters.

Such observations constitute a violation of the notion of ‘Separation of Powers,’ according to this misguided group of people.

And so we saw several communications pouring in, suggesting that the concept of the ‘Separation of Powers’ is a sacred cow; meaning that the concept must not be infringed, and that the judiciary also is some kind of holy animal. Indeed, this accepted wisdom is akin to 19th century thinking.

John Locke, in his Civil Government (1690), second treatise, introduced only legislative and executive powers; and Montesquieu, in his L’Esprit des Lois, in 1748, included the judicial powers.

And Montesquieu believed that a country’s freedom is predicated on the separation of the three types of power — legislative, executive, and judicial.

Now we come to the Guyana Press Association (GPA), which implicitly endorses the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine.

The GPA has not presented any public analysis of the Gordon Moseley letter that induced the Administration of the Office of the President (OP) to declare Moseley persona non grata at the Office of the President and State House, yet it has begun its protest engagements.

All ethics of journalism would require a press association to do the right thing, that is, to analyse the contents of Moseley’s letter on the issues of reproach and disrespect to the Head of State.

Yet, with regard to the concerns raised in the declaration of Gordon Moseley as persona non grata at the Office of the President (OP) and State House, Denis Chabrol and the Guyana Press Association (GPA) gang, implicitly firm believers in the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine, utilised protests to vent their concerns, and in the process violated the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine.

The issuing of the persona non grata status on Moseley is within the realm of the Executive, specifically within OP, yet Denis Chabrol and his merry gang recently inflicted their wrath on the Legislature, another branch of the political system, which has nothing to do with the issuance of the persona non grata edict; even the ministries have nothing to do with the issuance of this declaration against Moseley.

These are some of the people who took the President to task when he expressed concerns over a judge’s ruling on how scrutineers’ funds should be utilised; in that case, these people held on to their belief in the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine, that is, a separation between the Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary.

And now we have Denis Chabrol and the GPA gang’s walkout at the National Assembly; this action is a clear case of a violation of the ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine, that is, between the Executive (OP) and the legislature.

If Denis Chabrol, as part of the Opposition forces, wants to engage in protest action, then, by his own implicit belief in the ‘Separation of Powers’, he should restrict his protest gimmicks to the Executive, specifically OP, from where the declaration was issued, not the ministries.

Denis Chabrol and GPA gang have violated their own trust and belief in the sanctimonious ‘Separation of Powers’ doctrine.

Prem Misir