The APNU+AFC and democratic institutions

Jan 25, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The APNU+AFC does not belong in democratic institutions. The Coalition has in recent times committed unpardonable assaults on electoral democracy; it has flagrantly violated the Constitution and it has desecrated parliamentary democracy.
In the case of the latter it has done so on more than one occasion. The ruckus which erupted in the National Assembly on December 29th was just the latest instalment of un-parliamentary and undemocratic conduct by the APNU+AFC.
In December 2018, in the National Assembly, a vote of no confidence was passed against the APNU+AFC government. This was the first time in the history of Guyana that such a motion has been carried by the House.
Initially, the government said that it would accept the outcome of the no confidence vote. But then the government made an about turn, legally challenging the validity of the vote.
Among those challenges was the most ridiculous suggestion that 34 votes constituted the proper majority for the passage of the motion. It also challenged the validity of the votes on the basis that a dual national had voted, not realising that on both sides of this House this occurred.
Having lost its case in front of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and then, later, finding excuses not to comply with the decision of the country’s apex court, the CCJ.
The CCJ judges found that the passage of a vote of no confidence requires the resignation of the Cabinet including the President. It observed however, that notwithstanding such resignation, the
Government shall remain in office and that an election shall be held “within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly, determine …” No such extension was granted by the National Assembly.
The Court noted that in the interim between the resignation of the Cabinet and the holding of elections, the government, by convention, operates as a caretaker government and should restrain its legal authority.
Such restraint was missing. The government bulldozed the legislation relating to the Natural Resource Fund. It did so in the period between the passage of the no confidence motion and the holding of elections. It ought not to have done so.
The CCJ also ruled as unconstitutional the appointment of the former Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission. And even after this person resigned, the government came up with an ingenious interpretation of the CCJ’s rule to wit that the President has a right to nominate persons for consideration as Chairperson of the Commission. The absurdity of this interpretation is obvious: if the President had the authority to nominate and it is the President who has to choose, then he will most likely accept his own nominee.
Elections were finally held under a new Chairperson on 2nd March 2020. Those elections were deemed by international observers as free and fair. Five months after however, because of shenanigans, which were supported by the APNU+AFC, the elections results were in limbo.
One observer told a regional grouping that he has never seen a more transparent attempt to rig an election. APNU+AFC sought to benefit from that rigging. That whole attempt shamed Guyana in the eyes of the international community and demonstrated to all decent minded Guyanese that there were forces in our society who were prepared to push Guyana off the precipice and into political dictatorship.
Fortunately, that attempt was rebuffed with the help of international sanctions which were placed on so far unnamed officials but who are believed to include members of the APNU+AFC government.
The APNU+AFC crawled into parliament. But as we have seen it is finding great difficulty in operating as a responsible Opposition. It has now resorted to absurd histrionics.
But all of that merely confirms that the Coalition really is still to demonstrate that it is fit and proper to operate a democratic framework. The incident of 29th of December was disgraceful and further brought shame to the country.
The time has come for the members of the APNU and the AFC to make a decision as to whether the Coalition should continue to involve itself in democratic institutions since if such institutions cannot be respected then all we will have is a greater spectacle.
If the APNU cannot conduct itself properly in the National Assembly, then it will only be confirming its unsuitability for participation in democratic institutions and its eligibility for disqualification from such participation.
(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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