No agreement can supersede the Constitution

Jan 12, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The secretive State House Accord, now called the Revised Cummingsburg Accord, is not worth the paper on which it is written. The AFC ought to know by now that APNU can simply renege on any and everything which is written in that document.
The accord got off on a wrong footing. It ought never to have been signed on state property. As was the case in 2015, a neutral venue ought to have been identified for the signing of the pact.
The accord is not a legally binding document. The President has exclusive executive power under the Constitution and is under no legal compulsion to go along with anything which is written in that agreement. But he will be accused of lying to the public if he does not honour his statement pledge of making Khemraj Ramjattan his Prime Minister after the elections.
The AFC needs to seriously question why APNU was reluctant to name Ramjattan as the Coalition’s Prime Ministerial candidate. By now it should be obvious to the AFC that APNU prefers its own candidate.
The President’s age and illness are factors in this preference. The President is recovering from a serious illness which the public is advised is in remission. But also the President is not getting any younger, and there is a belief that he is likely to step aside and make way for a successor before the end of his term. After all, if he serves until the end of his next term – conditional on him winning the elections, of course – he would be 80 years old.
Assuming that he wins the elections, if the President has to step aside, it is the Prime Minister who assumes the Presidency. It has been rumoured that there is an understanding between the two sides that should this happen, the AFC will not assume the Presidency.
This, of course, is unconstitutional, since the Constitution provides for the Prime Minister to become President. Nothing that is written in the new agreement can prevent an AFC Prime Minister from assuming President should the position become vacant.
The APNU therefore has gotten bitten by its own snake. It was APNU which disavowed the provision which it had agreed to under the original Cummingsburg Accord, which provided for the Prime Minister to chair Cabinet. APNU made it clear after the elections that this part of the agreement was in violation of the Constitution.
The AFC can claim the same thing in the event of there being a need to appoint a new President. The AFC can say that, notwithstanding what is written in the new Cummingsburg Agreement, the Constitution is supreme.
The AFC would be on a strong legal footing if it makes such a pronouncement. No agreement can supersede the Constitution. And the Constitution provides that Ramjattan should succeed Granger.
APNU therefore is likely to want its own candidate as Prime Minister. But there is now a pact with the public. The public has been informed that Ramjattan will be the Prime Minister. To go back on that after the election will be considered to be an act of deception. But politicians have been known to find ways to gloss over such deception.
The real danger which Granger faces, however, is not likely to come from the AFC. It is likely to come from within his own party. There are persons within APNU who want to become President. Their financial backers are growing weary of waiting.
Some APNU persons, who have their hearts set on becoming President, are not getting younger. And so they may be eyeing the ‘prize’ if and when Granger decides to step aside. Some of them may not be willing to wait five years to ascend to the throne. They do not know what the 2025 elections will bring or whether they will still be around.
And so they are likely to impress on the President the need for the Prime Minister to come from within APNU. Granger may not be catering for this now that he has made his announcement. But he may be forced to give in to pressures after the elections.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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