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Guyana faces a constitutional crisis

Jan 10, 2017 Peeping Tom

There are misguided souls who believe that it is right to correct a wrong by trampling on the law. They believe that it is just and right to remedy an unlawful act by stampeding the law.
The rule of law is what protects us all. The law is what keeps us safe. Resort to extra-judicial activities results in public terror, not public protection. Resort to extra-constitutional measures leads to anarchy and abuse, not order and justice.
Extra constitutional means were used to try to bring about regime change. Extra-judicial killings were resorted to try to combat criminality. Those measures have brought no peace to Guyana. They have endangered democracy and freedoms of citizens.
The effects of the trampling of laws and constitutional rights are not confined to political issues. They have resulted in pain loss and the deprivation of property of citizens. They have led, also, to state-sponsored brutality and, at one stage, the reign of phantom squads. Every citizen loses when the rule of law and constitutionality are violated.
Yet there are those who fan the flames of the right of governments to run amok of the law, in pursuit of what they see as the correction of wrongdoing. Citizens are just as culpable as politicians in egging on those who feel that it is okay to violate the law to restore the law.
A wise man warned England centuries ago that the law must not be trampled upon, even to go after the Devil, because when the Devil comes after us there will be no law to protect us. The rule of law must always be upheld, because if the rule of law goes, there is no protection for either the bad or the good in society. It is therefore in the interest of all, to urge that even when it comes to the pursuit and prosecution of one’s enemies, lawful means must be used, even at the risk of failure.
Guyana is a constitutional democracy. Citizens have the right to elect a government of their choice. They also have a right to protection from laws and actions which violate the Constitution. The Constitution is the supreme protector against the unjust actions of government, corporations and man.
The Constitution of Guyana provides for two ways of naming the Chairperson of GECOM. One way is for the President to appoint either a judge or a former judge to head the Commission. Twenty-five years ago, another constitutional route was formulated. It allowed for the President to choose the Chairperson of GECOM from a list of six persons submitted by the Leader of the Opposition. This latter method has been used to choose five successive Chairpersons of the Guyana Elections Commission. It has become a constitutional convention.
The President of Guyana invoked this convention when he invited the Leader of the Opposition to submit names for consideration as Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission. The Leader of the Opposition, upon learning of the resignation/retirement of Dr. Steve Surujbally, did not decide on his own to submit a list of six persons.
Upon receipt of that list, the President asked for the CVs of the persons nominated. The Carter Formula was therefore invoked and put into operation. It cannot be arbitrarily abandoned because none of the nominees were judges. The qualification of judges applies to the first route for appointing a Chair. The qualification for the second route is that the person must be fit and proper and not objectionable to the President.
Guyana is facing a constitutional impasse. The candidates are not the object of this present impasse. The crisis is about the possible circumvention of a constitutional convention which has for twenty-five years had the force of law. The protection of the Court must be sought to uphold the rule of law. And constitutional conventions are an integral part of the rule of law.
If the argument is that all Chairpersons of GECOM must be judges, then it means that all elections since 1992 must be vitiated, since the person who is required to formally declare the winner of those elections, and who would have been appointed, did not meet the constitutional qualifications to become Chairman of GECOM. This is the quagmire that is being created because of the abandonment of a settled practice.

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