Dear Editor,
I would like to applaud your just fight for local government elections, and I specifically refer to an article in yesterday’s SN, 7th August, captioned ‘Local gov’t polls not a priority for majority of citizens – Whittaker.’ Where do we get these people from? And why do we put them in high office in this country?
Our constitution tells us at articles 7 & 8 as follows:
“7. It is the duty of every citizen of Guyana wherever he may be and of every person in Guyana to respect the national flag, the coat of arms, the national anthem and the Constitution of Guyana, and to treat them with due and proper solemnity on all occasions.
“8. The Constitution is the supreme law of Guyana and, if any other law is inconsistent with it, that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”
Mr Whittaker took an oath to honour and uphold the Constitution of Guyana on being sworn in as a minister, and that oath makes it obligatory that he respects it and enforces its provisions. The constitution is not a list of suggestions; it’s the supreme law of the country and the failure to hold constitutionally mandated elections because in his opinion local government polls are not a priority for the majority of our citizens, is complete hogwash and a gross violation of our supreme law. One may consider that excuses such as Gecom is not ready, may in fact be acceptable, if he says that, except that it is the obligation of the executive to name the date for local government and general elections, and it is Gecom’s to be ready to discharge their legal obligations under the constitution.
Article 12 of the Guyana Constitution informs us that “Local government by freely elected representatives of the people is an integral part of the democratic organisation of the State.” I don’t see how, under our constitution, we have allowed these interim management committees to replace “the freely elected representatives of the people” which have been allowed to pass unopposed.
This constitutional crisis has been going on for 17 years and it is time that we resolved it.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Vieira
