We are prepared for whatever the CCJ decides – Govt. spokesperson

Jun 15, 2019 News

Come next Tuesday, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is expected to hand down its decision on several matters, one of the most important being whether the opposition’s No-Confidence motion was valid or not.
Yesterday at a post-Cabinet press briefing, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon said that the government has no fear about the impending decision. He told members of the media that the government is prepared for whatever the court will decide and will honour and obey same.
Lending the opposition’s thoughts on the matter was PPP Executive Member, Anil Nandlall.
In his column called the Unruly Horse that was distributed to the media yesterday, Nandlall said that the Caribbean Court of Justice will deliver landmark rulings in the appeals emanating from the legal challenges filed against the No-Confidence Motion passed by Guyana’s National Assembly on December 21, 2018, as well as a challenge filed against the appointment of Justice James Patterson as the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Through these appeals, Nandlall contended that the CCJ is afforded the unprecedented opportunity to pronounce, inter alia, upon the strength of the supremacy of Guyana’s Constitution and the efficacy of numerous mechanisms and devices that inhere in the Constitution, as checks and balances against Executive power.
The former Attorney General said that after these rulings, the citizenry will know the true nature of the constitutional supremacy doctrine; whether a No-Confidence Motion does, or does not exist in Guyana’s National Assembly; if it does, the impact and consequence of its successful passage and how and when is it successfully passed; whether defects in the qualifications of a member of the Assembly can affect its potency; whether GECOM is the master of, or subordinate to, the Constitution; and whether the President can capriciously reject nominees submitted to him by the Leader of the Opposition for the appointment of a chairman of GECOM and instead, unilaterally appoint one of his own choosing.
“In short, the CCJ will ultimately determine, as my erudite colleague, Kamal Ramkarran puts it, whether the Constitution of Guyana is merely a piece of paper,” Nandlall noted.
In addition to this, the politician said, “…The true test lies in how far the Court will be prepared to go in its consequential orders, in giving effect to the intent of the framers of the Constitution, once it finds that the Constitution has been violated.”

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