A controversial bid by the government to have the mines commission (GGMC) loan money to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) was today declared as ultra vires and null.
According to a statement by attorney Christopher Ram, Chief Justice (ag.) Ian Chang in a written decision handed down this afternoon, ruled that the decision by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to make a loan of three billion dollars from its funds and resources to the CH&PA was “both irrational and ultra vires” the GGMC and therefore “null and void”.
The action brought by WPA MP Desmond Trotman sprung from a Joint Statement by the GGMC and the CHPA dated January 29, 2015 and circulated the same day by GINA. According to the Statement, the GGMC and the CHPA had signed a Loan Agreement following the submission of an “Investment Proposal by the CHPA in January of this year”. According to the Statement, the money was to be used for the development of the housing sector.
The Chief Justice made absolute the Orders of Certiorari and Prohibition he granted on February 29, 2015 on an application by Trotman’s attorneys-at-law Ram and Brendon Glasford. In his decision today, the Chief Justice ruled that while the GGMC has the discretionary powers to make loans, the power does not extend for the purpose of the development of the housing sector.
