Latest update December 22nd, 2024 4:10 AM
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Fallouts from no-confidence vote… Parliament’s life likely to be extended–Commissioner Robeson Benn
With a continuing stalemate between Government and the Opposition on a date for elections, it appears that the life of the Parliament will be extended.
This past week, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), met to assess the readiness of the entity to hold elections within 90 days.
That period is mandated after a no-confidence vote on December 21 toppled the one-seat majority government.
The validity of the vote by Government parliamentarian, Charrandass Persaud, is being challenged in court with the ground-breaking ruling expected this week.
That no-confidence vote, under the Constitution, should have set in wheels the mechanics for the holding of early elections, within 90 days.
The police are investigating Persaud who flew out to Canada, under the protection of the Canadian High Commission, hours after the vote. He is being accused of bribe-taking and attempting to purchase a large amount of gold.
Last week, after being ill and out of office for six weeks, GECOM’s chairman, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, returned to head a meeting with commissioners.
The commission was briefed on Thursday but the meeting ended abruptly with no dates for a continuation.
Under the Constitution, there should be resignation of the Parliament, consequent to the no-confidence vote.
On Friday, two representatives, Government’s Chief Whip, Amna Ally, and the Opposition’s Gail Teixeira, met with the commission to be briefed.
However, they now have to go back to their respective parties and inform them that no progress has been made.
Rather, it is all up to the parties to make the decisions.
According to PPP commissioner, Robeson Benn, yesterday, the meeting with the Chief Whips on Friday lasted about 90 minutes at the Kingston headquarters.
In addition to the Chief Whips, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, and his deputy were present.
“The commissioners on both sides gave presentations and we said that elections have to be held by March 19-20 which is the limit of the 90 days mandated. From there GECOM had to do the necessary.”
According to Benn, GECOM had to present a work place on their activities, matching this against a timeline.
“GECOM has not done so. Two commissioners for the Government side- Vincent Alexander and Desmond Trotman- said that there must be house-to-house registration and that GECOM needs time to fill vacancies. They argued that any person can claim the right to vote and that right overrides anything else. We were at an impasse.”
According to Benn, Chief Whip Teixeira was set to make a presentation when the Chairman brought the meeting on Friday to an “abrupt” end.
“The Chairman is failing in respect to Constitutional responsibilities. GECOM needs to present a work plan. We need to have them present activities that are not consecutive but should overlap to save time.”
According to Benn, the Opposition is saying that there are enough persons already trained and instead of using weekends as suggested by GECOM to conduct training, the idea is to train during the week.
“GECOM is feeding the perception that it is delaying elections. We can’t have that.
The two Whips now have to go back to their principals and there is tendency to go in the direction of extending the date. The Government wants months. They have started campaigning. The elections are supposed to be held in 90 days. We are pushing for it.”
The PPP fancies its chances at elections with two local government elections showing falling support for the Coalition Government, moreso for the Alliance For Change, the smaller of the two governing factions.
Three and half years into its terms, the historic Coalition Government is under fire for its failure to deliver elections promises.
Some seeming missteps and the Charrandass Persaud vote have not been helpful.
The closures of the sugar estates and delays in attracting new investments or starting new projects have been blasted by an opposition whose top members have been the subject of criminal investigations and charges.
In fact, the recently named presidential candidate of the PPP, Irfaan Ali, is facing several charges in relation to his role in selling state lands to top PPP officials without valuation of the lands at the so-called “Pradoville Two”, at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara.
The fact that Guyana has found oil in large quantities has opened up the stakes even more.
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