BHARRAT WILL NOT BE BACK!

Nov 29, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

As part of the Constitutional reform process that took place after the 1997 elections, an Oversight Committee was established to draft revisions that would give effect to the recommendations of the Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC).
One of the recommendations of that Commission was to establish term limits for the Presidency. In drafting the revisions to the Constitution, the Oversight Committee did its job. It did not fail in its mandate to give effect to term limits. Nor were the amendments ambiguous.
There is therefore no need for concern that the reforms enacted, limiting a President to two elected term, left a lacuna that would allow for the possibility of former President Bharrat Jagdeo returning to the throne of Executive power in Guyana.
The amendments to the Constitution provide at Article 90(2):
”A person elected as President after the year 2000 is eligible for re-election only once.”
It is being suggested that this provision opens the possibility for a third term for President Jagdeo, since one of the rules of legal interpretation of terms are the common and general usage of terms, and that the term “re-election” in its normal and common usage, refers to the election of someone who is incumbent.
Based on the false assumption that re-election can only come immediately after one term, there is the possibility that a President can return to the Presidency after a lapse of one term. In other words, this argument is based on the assumption that re-election can only refer to election for consecutive terms.
This assumption is however predicated on a false premise. The term re-election in its common usage simply means to elect again. It is conceivable for someone to be re-elected for a consecutive term. But it is equally possible for a former President to be re-elected, as has been the case in Argentina recently. Thus, if taken in its normal usage, a person can be re-elected for a consecutive term or that person can be re-elected after a lapse one or more terms.
When the Constitution of Guyana, therefore, provides for someone to be only re-elected once, this effectively means that a single individual can only serve two terms, regardless of the intermission between these terms.
Any Court interpreting Article 90 of the Constitution is likely to go beyond a literal interpretation of the provision. Since this very Article emerged out of a process of Constitutional Reform, the Court would most likely examine the intent of the framers. And in seeking the intent of the framers, the Court would have to consider the fact that the CRC had agreed that there should be term limits and that a President should be limited to no more than two elected terms.
This is made clearer by Article 90 (3) which provides that someone who accedes to office after 2000, that is, someone who takes over without being elected, and who serves for no less than a period determined by the National Assembly, is only eligible for election once.
Now if the Constitution limits someone who has acceded to the Presidency to only one elected term, it would be incongruous for the same Constitution to grant to another person who had served two terms, a third term, would it not?
It is therefore obvious that there is no foundation to the argument that it may be possible for Bharrat Jagdeo, twice elected as President, to enjoy a third term after the present term of Donald Ramotar ends. This would be ultra vires of the Constitution.
There is, however, another reason why Bharrat Jagdeo will not return to the throne of political power in Guyana. The President of any country has tremendous power and that power, as we have seen, can be used to determine how the party votes. It would take a very weak president to not be granted the presidential candidacy of his party.
It would even be more audacious for a party seeking re-election to go into an election without its sitting President as its presidential candidate.
Donald Ramotar has not been inspiring so far in his presidency. But that should not be wrongly interpreted to mean that he is simply warming the seat of the throne for the return of Bharrat Jagdeo. If you make such an interpretation, you will end up being very disappointed. The Donald will serve his two terms.

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BHARRAT WILL NOT BE BACK!

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