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Ministerial Plenary meeting with all powers of Cabinet
By Kiana Wilburg
The government is no longer holding Cabinet meetings. This is being done as a sign of respect for the court’s ruling that Cabinet ceases to exist once a No-Confidence Motion is passed. Instead, it is holding a Ministerial Plenary. But this very body still has all the powers of Cabinet.
This was announced yesterday by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, during a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of the Presidency.
There, the media was quick to question the legality of such a body which Harmon said, is considering several Bills and “noting” the award of contracts.
In defence of the Ministerial Plenary and its powers, Harmon contended that the body is provided for under the Constitution, specifically the part that speaks to the President and the Government.
He explained that the said provisions note that the President is empowered by the Constitution to hire Ministers to help him carry out his duties. When there is a meeting of those Ministers, then they would have the powers of Cabinet to ensure they execute the mandate given to them by the President, expressed Harmon.
The Minister of State said, “The Plenary is usually held once a month and Cabinet sessions are held every week. It is an extended Cabinet with all ministers included. It is noted that there is a judgment of the court that was made with respect to Cabinet and that judgment has been appealed.
“We do not have a stay on the judgment as yet. Therefore, we have not held Cabinet meetings as such. The Plenary however is chaired by President David Granger and includes all of the ministers and therefore, has all of the powers that the Cabinet can have…”
The Minister of State was also asked to say what law gives the Plenary the authority to note contracts. In this regard, he explained that contracts are determined by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
Harmon said, “They are usually sent for a noting and that is to say a recognition that these contracts have been finalized and they have been issued. So there is no question of a no-objection or approval. It is a noting and that has always been the position with that.”
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon
As for concerns that the Plenary is running the risk of the parliamentary opposition challenging its “noting” of contracts and any other decisions it makes for that matter, Harmon did not seem worried.
The Minister said, “I don’t see it as running a risk because it has always been a position of when Cabinet sat, Cabinet noted, when the plenary sits, it noted and that recognized that the final decision was made at the NPTAB. So I don’t understand it to be running any risk.”
He added, “We have a government that is legal and functioning and a President of Guyana…We have been elected by the people in May 2015 to run the affairs of the country for the next five years…we didn’t come into office by any backdoor means.”
Given his comments on the powers and legitimacy of the plenary, Harmon was pressed by the media fraternity to say if the Coalition Administration is not basically running a proxy Cabinet. To this he retorted, “You can interpret it how you want to.”
Since the Government is respecting the court’s ruling on the non-existence of Cabinet, Harmon was also quizzed to say why the government does not respect the other part of the court’s ruling to hold elections in 90 days.
The Minister said that if one accepts Article 106 (7) of the Constitution, one would see that it speaks to the timeline of elections and the fact that there can be an extension of that 90 days deadline.
He added, “It says that the President will remain until there are new elections and so matters have been filed in relation to these matters and it would be premature for him (President David Granger) to call elections and these matters are still engaging the attention of the court.”
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