Dear Editor,
As was to be expected, following passage of the No Confidence Motion, certain court jesters have sprung up. Their aim is to chip away as fast, and as hard as they can at the legality of the No Confidence Motion.
Unlike jesters of medieval times who were bold enough to tell the truth, the modern day jesters are supportive of the coalition and prefer to engage in tomfoolery by advancing all kinds of shenanigans.
Frantic efforts are being made to throw dust in the eyes of the Guyanese people with the aim of preventing the dust from settling and to move on in peace and good order within the meaning of the Constitution of the Republic.
But on a more dangerous note, the public must know that there are other activities, covert in nature that are taking place in villages known to be PNC strongholds.
The intention of those involved is to stir up pockets of protests against passage of the No Confidence Motion.
Observers are left to wonder why, despite the assurances issued by President Granger to the effect that there is ‘’No cause for alarm, and there are no grounds for any form of disorder …’’ some mischief makers within his camp are working overtime to turn back the clock.
The President further declared, following passage of the No Confidence Motion that ‘’government will abide by the (constitutional) stipulations, which have been imposed on it.’’
In the circumstances, the public is very much aware that the single overarching stipulation enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana in this particular matter, and to which the government must abide is that the government must resign and work with the parliamentary opposition on the steps to be taken thereafter.
Notwithstanding acceptance of defeat by Prime Minister Nagamootoo who declared that: ‘while the outcome of the motion was not favourable, it must be respected’ and later, assurances by the President himself, it appears that differing views on the motion’s passage have surfaced within the coalition resulting in the uncontrolled behaviour of some of his ministers.
It is precisely this indisciplined behaviour of certain ministers of government that prompted Christopher Ram to remark that: ‘The Head of State offered very little leadership and allowed some of his ministers to run uncontrolled.’
It is these uncontrollable ministers who are engaged in frenetic forum shopping in search of a way to undo what was legally and constitutionally carried by the majority in the National Assembly to facilitate the resignation of the APNU+AFC coalition administration.
Moreover, the official announcement that ‘cabinet has established a sub-committee to examine all the legal options available and to advise on the legal and constitutional aspects of the vote and to report to cabinet on December 27’, should be viewed as an intriguing development that should neither be overlooked nor ignored.
Should the APNU+AFC decide to ‘Dis’ the constitutional provisions that advises them to perform to the ’Bye, Bye Birdie’ musical parody, that would no doubt result in a constitutional crisis of unimaginable proportions.
Progressive and democratic-minded Guyanese at home and abroad would deem such a development an attack on all the rights they struggled for and secured over the years since independence.
Thankfully, there is an important saving grace; Guyana as a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the OAS, UNASUR and CARICOM is a state party to a slew of multilateral treaties, covenants and conventions that commits the nation to uphold universally shared beliefs and values, democratic governance as well as the fundamental civil, political and human rights of the Guyanese people.
It follows therefore, that were the APNU+AFC to violate the constitutional provisions that requires the coalition government to do the right thing and resign, such action would, beyond the shadow of a doubt, throw Guyana into a tailspin from which it would take years to recover.
The ball is therefore firmly in the court of the Granger administration to ensure that the political climate leading up to the dissolution of parliament and during the entire elections campaign remains politically stable.
This is not to say that the political opposition does not share any responsibility whatsoever to ensure that peace and good order prevails throughout the country. On the contrary, it does. However, much depends on the actions of government and the PNCR in particular at this critical juncture of our country’s political history.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
