Guyana under siege by the big, bad bully

Apr 05, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

APNU+AFC demands all must respect the courts. Their demand follows the rulings of the appellate court that the No-Confidence motion (NCM) is not valid. Yet, it is this same APNU+AFC which refused to honour the rulings of the Chief Justice on December 31st when she ruled that the NCM was valid.
Since December 21st 2018, APNU+AFC has been breaching the laws of Guyana, pronouncing everyone, excepting APNU+AFC, must honour the courts and parliament. This is utter hypocrisy and lawlessness. Only bullies and dictators behave this way.
These are times which demand our political leaders ascend to the greater good, acting in the interest of Guyana and the Guyanese people. There is a grave political crisis hammering the economic and social welfare of every Guyanese citizen. Yet, APNU+AFC behaves as if they have a divine right to power, disavowing every tenet of our constitution and disregarding the judiciary. Their arrogance, hypocrisy and bully tactics daily, bring greater stress and stagnation in our country. Freedom and democracy are under siege once again in our country.
They continue to bully and subvert the most important institutions which guarantee Guyana’s freedom and democracy and ensure justice. The Constitution is under constant attack and subversion. Parliament, APNU+AFC’s personal playground, functions at their whims and fancies, and even mathematics is not safe.
GECOM is now a creature of APNU+AFC. The Judiciary is under assault.
On January 31, 2019, the Chief Justice in the High Court made three decisions. First, that the NCM of December 21st, 2018 in Guyana’s Parliament was valid, that based on this decision, the Government must set a date for elections and GECOM must conduct those elections. Second, that MP Charandass cast a valid vote and that all 65 votes were valid. Third, that dual citizens in Guyana’s Parliament henceforth must resign their seats and that no one is eligible to sit in Parliament while a dual citizen. APNU+AFC was bound by these decisions to comply with immediate effect. APNU+AFC refused to respect these decisions, disregarding the rulings of the Chief Justice, based on the spurious argument they had lodged an appeal. Like bullies and dictators, they created their own laws.
After the Court of Appeal handed down its decision, APNU+AFC wasted no time that same evening to demand everyone respects one of the court’s decisions. It immediately announced it will resume Parliament and Cabinet meetings. Cabinet is already meeting, as if the NCM did not happen. Parliament is set to meet on April 11.
Shamefully, APNU+AFC argues that its failure to comply with the Chief Justice ruling was because it had appealed the rulings.
It is a reprehensible manifestation of Animal Farm “we are all equal but some are more equal than others”. This is sheer hypocrisy, but more importantly, it is APNU+AFC at its most extreme manifestation of being a big, bad bully.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

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