AFC says new law flies in face of judicial ruling

Apr 25, 2009 News

Alliance For Change Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, argued in vain to stall the Elections Laws (Amendment) Bill that was piloted by Minister of Legal Affairs Charles Ramson.
According to Ramjattan, the law flies in the face of a judicial ruling by Justice Jainarayan Singh which stated that the money allocated to the Opposition parties for registration scrutineers must be divided proportionately amongst the parties based on their numerical strength in Parliament,.

Ramjattan was annoyed at what he called a mis-representation when Ramson, in introducing the Bill, said that it was in the spirit of the judicial ruling which was appealed by the Guyana Elections Commission, and that the Appeal Court found that the High Court had ruled correctly.

Under the new legislation, the combined opposition parties in the National Assembly shall be paid remuneration in accordance with an administrative scheme fashioned by the Elections Commission after the Commission is satisfied from supporting evidence that the scrutineer has satisfactorily performed his duties.
It adds, also, that the Leader of the Opposition shall submit the list of scrutineers of the combined opposition of the National Assembly to be remunerated, after meaningful consultation with the other opposition parties in the National Assembly.

This, Ramjattan argued, was the exact regime that the AFC had challenged in the High Court and won.
The Bill reportedly stemmed from an action brought by the AFC during the last national registration exercise.
An allocation was made from the National Treasury to pay party scrutineers and the difficulty arose because the scrutineers from the smaller parties in the National Assembly were not paid from the allocation.

In supporting the Bill, PNCR Member and Chief Scrutineer of the party during the last registration exercise, Amna Ally, assured the House that no money was handed over to the parties as was being propagated but that the money was held by GECOM and paid to the individuals when they were accredited and after appropriate pay-sheets were submitted and verified by GECOM.
She however, called for GECOM to ensure that the all parties must be fully apprised in a timely manner of the regulations that will govern the disbursement of funds to the political parties’ scrutineers.

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AFC says new law flies in face of judicial ruling

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