Even after crucial rulings…No consensus among parties; CCJ orders seem inevitable

Even after crucial rulings…No consensus among parties; CCJ orders seem inevitable – Attorney Sanjeev Datadin

Jun 24, 2019 News

Given the lack of consensus between the parties involved, it is apparent that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will be required to make declaratory orders in two matters, crucial to the nation’s immediate future.
Last Tuesday, the CCJ ruled that the December 21, 2018 No-Confidence Motion (NCM) was validly passed against the coalition government. The Court also ruled that the process undertaken to appoint retired Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, (GECOM) was flawed and unconstitutional.
Guyana’s ruling, A Partnership for National Unity – Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) coalition government and main political opposition, People Progressive Party, (PPP), have been at odds over the decisions in the two cases.
The parties had moved to the CCJ, Guyana‘s final Appellate Court for its interpretation of constitutional provisions as it relates to the matters.

Attorney at Law, Sanjeev Datadin

Subsequent to Tuesday’s ruling, President of the CCJ Justice Adrian Saunders urged the parties involved in the litigation, to engage with each other and reach consensus in order that the Court would not be required to make consequential orders on the way forward. Saunders hinted that should the parties fail to achieve consensus; the Court will be necessitated to do so.
However while the parties are scheduled to appear before the CCJ today, it has become evident that the two sides have not made any progress in terms of agreement.
Responding to queries as regards consensus, Attorney-at–law, Sanjeev Datadin, who represented the opposition side in Court, noted that his team has since sent out a joint proposal to the Attorney General (Government’s legal representative) but “we are yet to receive any word from them as it relates to the future of the case.”
Datadin noted that “As I have said before, our side stands ready and available for discussion from the inception of the Court’s ruling.”
Datadin said that in the meantime, the position of the legal team representing the Opposition has not changed, “our side has proposed that the Court recommends a mechanism for the appointment of a new chairman of GECOM, in the shortest possible time. It is no secret that the current Chairman has been declared illegally appointed, and so his removal is inevitable.”
In relation to the No–Confidence ruling, Datadin said that his team wants the Court to dispense orders for Parliament to be dissolved and a date for elections to be named—in the shortest possible time—in keeping with the rulings.
Datadin noted, too, that he hopes that the CCJ will make declaratory orders that will compel the President and Opposition Leader to take the necessary action in keeping with its ruling.
Last week, subsequent to the court’s judgment, Attorney-at-law Anil Nandlall who appeared alongside Datadin and Kamal Ramkarran in the matters expressed a similar view.
He had asserted that if the parties failed to agree on a way forward, “I believe the court will make coercive orders to ensure that certain matters…the appointment of a new GECOM Chair and the date General Elections are set within a manner as much as possible that is time-prescribed and in accordance with the Constitution.”

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