Latest update February 20th, 2025 9:10 AM
The appointment of GECOM’s Chair would not have been possible had Parliament and the Office of the Leader of the Opposition been terminated
DEAR EDITOR,
When former 2-term Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, S.C. wrote in his August 25, 2019 column that “The timid, indecisive and ineffectual decision-making of the CCJ has brought elections no closer, has left the Guyanese people defenceless in the face of an egregious assault on their constitutional rights and has left open its decision to more than one interpretation. The Caribbean Court of Justice has failed Guyana”, he was publicly venting his disappointment and anger that the CCJ had declined the request to order the immediate resignation of the Cabinet and set a date for elections while asserting that it was the constitutional responsibility of the President and the National Assembly (and implicitly GECOM) to determine such matters. Mr. Ramkarran’s concern for the “defenceless” people “in the face of an egregious assault on their constitutional rights” was not directed at the supporters of the APNU+AFC government whose votes were misused and abused by the no confidence vote process but rather at the persons who conspired to subvert the decisions of the previous election. While the Courts found that there were no constitutional protections against such a cynical assault on the democratic process and the fundamental rights of citizens, it found that it could not compound this travesty of justice by ordering the resignation of the President and Cabinet and determining a date for early elections, as demanded by Mr. Ramkarran and others.
Unlike the CCJ, the former Speaker of the National Assembly sees little or no discretionary role for the President or parliament in this regard and an overwhelming role for the Courts (which they have largely declined) no confidence vote (NCV) as the enforcement arm of the politicians that instigated and coordinated the NCV and believes that there was no “serious justification” for the CCJ or any other court to decline to make the orders sought by the supporters of the NCV. The only persons with “integrity” in his view are the persons who conspired to misappropriate a governing (majority) party vote to temporarily deliver a majority to the opposition in order to abort a democratically elected government’s term in office. Mr. Ramkarran now declares that, in his opinion, Parliament is without legal status and should be considered automatically dissolved given the validity of the NCV. He asserts that the CCJ declaration that general elections should have already been held by March 21, 2019 would have seen the parliament being dissolved some time before notwithstanding the exercise of the President’s constitutional prerogative not to dissolve the National Assembly up to this time.
The fact is that the CCJ, in its statements, directions and orders, suggest no support whatsoever for Mr. Ramkarran’s extreme and partisan positions, but reiterated the necessity and duty of the President and National Assembly to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities, which would not be possible if the National Assembly had ceased to exist. Mr. Ramkarran’s failure to demand that the Leader of the Opposition demit office prior to March 21, 2019, or September 18, 2019 or at all, as well as Mr. Jagdeo’s continuation in office is ample testimony to the lack of seriousness by which he himself views his arguments and he has not opposed or condemned Mr. Jagdeo’s role in the appointment of the current Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission which would not have been possible had parliament and the Office of Leader of the Opposition been terminated.
Sincerely,
Oscar Dolphin
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