Stop wasting country’s time with court cases- LJP, TCI

Jul 21, 2020 News

The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) have called on the governing A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) to stop wasting the nation’s time, as the coalition, once again, indicated that it would challenge another clear court ruling.

(From left) Presidential Candidates of LJP and TCI, Lennox Shuman and Rondha Lam

The LJP and TCI issued their statements last evening following yesterday’s decision by Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George-Wiltshire, in which she ruled that the national vote recount must be used to declare the results of the March 2, General and Regional Elections. George-Wiltshire also ruled that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, is not a “lone ranger” and must do as he is directed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
During the ruling, Attorneys-at-Law Mayo Robertson and Roysdale Forde, who represented the applicant Misenga Jones, disclosed that they plan on approaching the Court of Appeal with the objecting of contesting the CJ’s decision.
Considering that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the Chief Justice were “comprehensive and clear” in their previous judgments, the LJP sees the approach to the Court of Appeal as a waste of the court’s and country’s time “and it is an obstruction of the elections declarations by the PNC that we are hopeful will levy further sanctions on the perpetrators that continue to torture this nation through this process,” the LJP wrote in their statement to the press.
Meanwhile, the TCI wrote in their statement to the press that they remain concerned that “despite such a clear and concise ruling, there is yet to be another court matter.” TCI therefore calls on all parties to abide by the rulings and not waste any more of the court’s time.
Incumbent President David Granger has repeatedly said that his party is not interfering in the work of the GECOM. However, matters were brought to the courts by three Coalition supporters under the guise of “private citizens”.
The first case was brought by APNU+AFC Candidate, Ulita Grace Moore, on March 17, seeking to block a CARICOM-supervised recount.
Moore was an East Coast Demerara candidate for the Coalition in the 2018 Local Government Elections and she was on the Region Four list of candidates for the regional elections.
In her application, Moore through her Attorneys-at-Law, government aligned Mayo Robertson and Roysdale Forde had requested that the Court order GECOM to utilize the fraudulent declarations made by Clairmont Mingo on March 13.
The High Court had ruled on the case in favour of Moore; however that ruling was overturned by the Full Court, paving way for the National Recount.
After the recount was completed, showing a clear win for the Opposition, another Coalition supporter, Eslyn David, brought a motion to the Court of Appeal in attempts to block the CEO from presenting to the Commission, his final report using the figures from the recount.
That case was brought on June 19, mere minutes before Lowenfield was expected to submit his report before the Commission at 13:00hrs that afternoon.
David was also represented by Attorney-at-Law Mayo Robertson, who represented Moore in the first case, and Roger Yearwood. She sought from the Court among other things, a declaration that GECOM failed to act in accordance with the recount order No. 60, in that it “failed to determine a final credible count and or the credibility of the result” of the March 2 polls.
David based her request on the preliminary summation report compiled by Lowenfield where he produced two alternate figures; the accurate numbers from the recount and another which took into consideration the baseless allegations made Coalition during the recount.
The Appellate Court ruled 2-1 in favour of David but that ruling was later overturned when the Opposition ventured to the apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). David, who turned respondent in the case, was represented again by Mayo Robertson.
They ruled that the Appellate Court has no jurisdiction to rule on David’s case, and cleared a path for the GECOM Chair, to once again, order the CEO to prepare his report using the recount figures.
With the clear CCJ ruling, the CEO was instructed again to prepare his report. That action was marred once more, with a next court action, the most recent brought by a Coalition’s Counting Agent, Misenga Jones. Jones, like Moore and David, was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Mayo Robertson.
In their conclusion, the LJP made an appeal to President Granger “to stop lying to his supporters, stop torturing this nation, call off his dogs of war and end this charade. We also call on Madam Chair to see through the PNC’s continued attempts to derail the conclusion of these elections and take decisive steps to show her mettle and end this torture.”