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Government backdated Gazette to validate Rodney COI proceedings of June 23 – says APNU lawyer

Jul 03, 2014 News

The Guyana Government is being accused of backdating the Official Gazette which purported to extend the life of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry. This is the allegation by Counsel for the People’s National Congress, Basil Williams, in a letter to the press.
According to Williams, the minutes of the work of the Commissioners before the announcement of the extension, was delayed until an Official Gazette purporting to extend the life of the COI was hastily printed and presented to them.
On June 26, last, Chairman of the Commission, Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC, announced that the life of the inquiry was extended, but this was only after Williams had inquired about the legality of the proceedings since it had gone beyond the stipulated time.
“Three senior counsel, each from a different Caricom country, delayed the work of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) for about one hour, until an Official Gazette purporting to extend the life of the COI was hastily printed and presented to them,” Williams stressed.
Williams said that he and his support team which included UG students, had searched the Official Gazette’s website and had seen no such extension in the months of May and June, 2014, nor did the Office of the President issue any hard copies of the Gazette with that information for those months.
He said that the Chairman of the COI responded that he was in receipt of a letter under the hand of President Ramotar, indicating that he had extended the life of the Commission and that he would proceed.
Williams contends that no Official Gazette was produced on June 23, 24, 25 or June 26, 2014, evidencing any extension of the life of the COI, by the President.
According to Williams on the morning of June 26, 2014 before the business of the day began, he had again inquired of the commissioners if the elusive Official Gazette had surfaced and the answer was no. Williams then proceeded to elucidate the importance of the COI having its life extended.
The COI was commissioned on February 8, 2014 with a mandate to conclude its work within four months, by June 8, 2014. The COI did not conclude its work by June 8, 2014.
Williams informed the Commissioners that unless the COI was covered by an extension of its life then any work done by the COI would be without legal authority and could only be cured or ratified subsequently by an act of Parliament and not the President.
Williams also contended that all the work done since June 23, 2014 would be imperiled since it is questionable whether the opposition majority in Parliament would pass such an act to ratify evidence taken without the period allotted by the President.
Williams also suggested that the Commissioners delay the start of the day’s proceedings until the position was clarified. The Chairman then consulted with the lawyers of the Rodney family and it was agreed to suspend the start of the proceedings accordingly.
About an hour later the COI was supplied with freshly printed copies of a purported Official Gazette dated June 24, 2014 and purporting to state, “The President hereby grants” the COI an extension from June 8, 2014 to September 30, 2014. That Gazette also purported to state:- “The extension of time granted hereof shall be effective from the 23rd day of June, 2014.”
This meant that President Ramotar was attempting to subsequently legitimize the work done by the COI on June 23, via Gazette publication on June 24, 2014. President Ramotar has no such power, Williams posited.
The purported extension to cover the June 23, 2014 proceedings is therefore ultra vires, null, and void and in excess of the jurisdiction granted the President under the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act Cap 19:03. Williams noted only an Act of Parliament can validate the work of the COI on that date.

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