Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Three-term presidency…Ramkarran says PPP never sought Constitutional reform
The issue of a President serving more than two terms should be dealt with during the process of constitutional reform, says former Speaker of the House, Ralph Ramkarran, SC.
Bharrat Jagdeo
Ralph Ramkarran
Writing in his blog, The Conversation Tree, on Saturday, Ramkarran also suggested that reforms may be hard to come by as the Opposition, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), is not going be interested in any.
On Thursday, Chief Justice Ian Chang issued a ruling in a constitutional challenge which opened the way for someone to serve more two terms as President.
Government has signaled intentions for appeals to be filed. It is widely felt that former President Bharrat Jagdeo, whose presidency was filled with accusations of corruption, might make a run for office again.
“It would have been tempting to suggest that whatever the outcome of appeals, the matter should be definitively dealt with during the process of constitutional reform. But while appeals in this case are pending and Dr. Jagdeo sniffs at a potential return as President, the PPP is not going to be interested in any kind of reform. It never was anyway.”
“One of the few issues of agreement between all political parties in Guyana after 1992 was term limitation for the President. It was proposed by the Constitutional Reform Commission in 2000 and subsequently enacted by Act No. 17 of 2001.
“The PPP had earlier proposed a limitation of two terms to the Special Select Committee on Constitutional Reform established by the National Assembly after the 1992 elections. But its work came to a premature end with the dissolution of the National Assembly for the 1997 elections,” Ramkarran recalled.
On August 11, 1999, while the constitution reform process was in full swing, Bharrat Jagdeo succeeded to the presidency upon the resignation of Mrs. Janet Jagan. Until then there was not a single voice in the PPP in opposition to the presidential term limitation which had already been decided and which had already been put to the Constitution Reform Commission by a delegation led by then General Secretary, Donald Ramotar.
After all of this had happened, Feroze Mohamed and Gail Teixeira, neither of whom had hitherto made any objection to presidential term limits, raised an objection to it in the executive committee of the party and sought to revisit the issue. They argued that the choice of President is a matter for the electorate and suggested that the party should change its position.
“While the suggestion was quickly dismissed, it would not surprise anyone that the assumption of office of Dr. Jagdeo and the effort to persuade the party to change its mind about the term limitation were linked. Since then, the issue of term limitation for the President has never been far from the headlines.”
“During last year, after an article I had written Dr. Luncheon assured the Guyanese public that the Government supports the constitutional limitation on presidential terms and believes it to be lawful. Dr. Jagdeo has also repeatedly assured the Guyanese people that he is not interested in a third term.”
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