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Govt. rejects Bar Association statement of operating outside Rule of Law
The government has rejected a statement issued on Friday by the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) of it operating outside the Rule of Law. In fact, the government insists that the statement was false and malicious as it cannot be supported by the Bar Council’s recourse to the Constitution of Guyana and the decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Attorney General, Basil Williams
President of the Bar Association, Teni Housty
In a press statement issued by the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affair it was stated that the GBA is expected to be independent and like Caesar’s Wife” – above reproach and is not expected to be the “minion” of any political party or grouping, or to mindlessly parrot its utterances. The statement added, “Above all, the GBA is expected to disseminate accurately the decisions of our Courts, more so our Apex Court the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).”
The government said that neither does Articles 106(6) nor 106(7) provides for the President to fix a date for elections within a three month period. In fact, the government said that the CCJ recognized that it was for GECOM not the Government to hold elections within the three months provided by article 106 (7) or such longer period approved by a two third majority of Parliament.
“In the case of the CCJ, the Court frontally rejected the consequential orders sought by Counsel for the Leader of the Opposition including that, “The President shall by proclamation appoint a date for the holding of elections no later than 18th September, 2019 and that “The Government shall remain in Office and shall hold an election for the members of the National Assembly within three months of 18th June, 2018 i.e. by 18th September, 2019,” the statement added.
It continued, “The CCJ in rejecting the aforesaid consequential orders and others said,- “Article 106 of the Constitution invests in the President and the National Assembly (and implicitly in GECOM), responsibilities that impact on the precise timing of the elections which must be held. It would not therefore be right for the Court, by the issuance of coercive orders or detailed directives, to presume to instruct these bodies on how they must act and thereby preempt the performance by them of their constitutional responsibilities. It is not, for example, the role of the Court to establish a date on or by which the elections must be held, or to lay down timelines and deadlines that, in principle, are the preserve of political actors guided by constitutional imperatives. The Court must assume that these bodies and personages will exercise their responsibilities with integrity…”
According to the statement, in the CCJ Counsel for the Attorney General, Mr. Eamon Courtenay SC had ably argued that if the Opposition did not agree to the two third majority extension then by necessity it would fall to the President who has the remit under the Constitution to both dissolve Parliament and proclaim a date for the elections after being advised by GECOM as to its readiness to deliver credible elections. As Head of the Bar of Guyana, The Attorney General (Basil Williams) exhorts the GBA to be guided by the aphorism, “Ours is a higher and perpetual retainer”, for Justice.”
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