The law according to me

Jul 22, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The government of Guyana continues to adopt a posture of being a sanctimonious victim. It continues to suggest that it has nothing to do with the obstruction, prevarication of the electoral process and the gerrymandering of the elections results.
Yesterday, Guyana told the Organization of American States that the Executive has not interfered, intervened or influenced the elections. It reiterated its holier-than-thou stance about the electoral process not yet being completed and that this process is outside of its control. It also repeated that the President has committed to accepting the declaration made by GECOM.
On May 17th the President visited the Arthur Chung Convention Centre where the national vote recount was taking place. He told the media: “As President of Guyana and Leader of the Government, it is my policy that any declaration coming from the Chairman of GECOM will be accepted by the Government of Guyana. I speak for the Government of Guyana.”
The goalpost has now shifted. It is no longer about accepting any declaration but only a declaration in keeping with the laws of the country.
The government wants to be the sole arbiter of the law. It acts as if it is a Court. It has set its own precedent when it comes to a determination of the law. In a case, filed by Marcel Gaskin in 2017, the Chief Justice had rejected the government’s position that it was mandatory for the person to be appointed to be the Chairperson of GECOM to be a judge, a former judge or someone qualified to be a judge.
A top government official, reacting to the judgment, had stated that this was her (the Chief Justice’s) opinion and that he had his. If the interpretation of the Court is treated by such high officialdom as an opinion, it is not difficult to imagine the implications for compliance with such interpretations. The government by its actions have only been interested in one outcome: the government’s position.
The government interprets court rulings to suit itself. The government, for example, had justified the unilateral appointment of Justice Patterson as Chairman of GECOM on the grounds that the High Court had ruled that the President had the discretion to act independently in appointing a Chairman. This, however, was not what the Court had ruled. It said that this could only happen if no list was submitted.
This is the shifty nature of the same Executive which is attempting to paint itself as bystander in the present imbroglio within GECOM. It is not. Even if it wishes to pretend that it has no hand in the legal actions which have been brought in the name of private citizens, it has not distanced itself from these actions. In fact, a close examination of the postures of the government would lead to the conclusion that it is very much behind these legal challenges which are frustrating the conclusion of the electoral process.
The Coalition which forms the ‘holding government’ has openly supported the challenge to GECOM declaring the results of the elections; it has sided with the Chief Elections Officer and his perverse declarations; it supports the contention that the recount should not be used as the basis of a declaration, even though its Presidential candidate has agreed in writing, under an international agreement, to accept the results of the recount. It agreed to the recount but now wants to deem it invalid.
The government is no innocent bystander. It is a key player in the actions which have led to the failure of GECOM to declare the results of the elections held more than four months ago.
Despite the complicity of the government in what is frustrating the democratic outcome of the elections, there continues to be pleas for an end to the prolonged electoral process and for the Coalition to concede. Those making those appeals do not understand the nature of the government to whom their appeals are directed. You cannot ask those bent on demagoguery to be democratic.
Those who wish to see an end to the present impasse cannot achieve this by asking the very forces which are complicit in frustrating the electoral process to respect the rule of law. The only laws which dictators respect are their own.
Those who are begging the government to concede should get off their knees. They have a better chance of finding a virgin in a whorehouse than having the government step aside.

(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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The law according to me

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