Iceland’s largest fishing conglomerate, Samherji, used an anonymous shell company in the Marshall Islands to launder illegal fishing activities off the coasts of West Africa and to bribe members of the Namibia government. Two ministers have already resigned over allegations that they granted preferential access to fishing grounds in exchange for bribes. Samherji also allegedly used shell companies in other tax havens such as Dubai, Mauritius and Cyprus, and most of the money that flowed through these companies can be traced back to a bank account at the Norwegian state-owned bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. These include receiving $200,000 in gifts from a Hollywood producer and an Australian businessman; negotiating a deal with a local newspaper for more favourable coverage of him in exchange for passing legislation to slow the growth of a rival newspaper; and granting regulatory favours worth $500 million to a leading telecommunications company also in exchange for positive coverage of him and his wife.
On the climate change front, in over 1,000 cities across 185 countries, an estimated four million people marched on 20 September to highlight the lack of effective action to combat climate change. In New York and Berlin, protestors numbered 300,000 and 270,000 respectively. Georgetown has not been listed in the spreadsheet of cities involved in the protest. This is despite the fact that rising sea levels due to climate change are creating havoc in several communities along Guyana’s coastline, necessitating billions of dollars in annual expenditure to construct, rehabilitate and maintain our sea and river defences.
We appear too preoccupied with our newly discovered oil resources that will produce 2.598 billion tons of carbon dioxide when the estimated six billion barrels of oil are extracted, sold and burnt. As a contribution to saving the planet and in the interest of future generations, should we not leave the oil where it belongs; concentrate on developing our economy through an effective programme of diversification; and live in a relatively small way with pride, dignity, happiness and at peace with ourselves, our fellow citizens and the international community? Why are we so materialistic in our craving for oil wealth?
The projected a GDP growth in 2020 is 86 percent, compared with the forecast of 4.4 percent in 2019, an almost 20 times increase. And we are elated about this, when Exxon’s subsidiaries will be carting off the lion’s share of the wealth generated from our oil resources, leaving a pittance for us. It will be of interest to learn how this projected growth will translate into an improvement in the quality of life, and more particularly, job creation when youth unemployment is as much as 40 percent, according to a 2015 Caribbean Development Bank Report. The 2018 Guyana Labour Force Survey puts the figure at 26.6 percent, 33.8 percent of which relates to women.
And at the UN Action Summit 2019 of 23 September, a young Swedish environmental and climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, addressed the meeting. In a defiant mood, this is what she told world leaders:
You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with empty words, and yet I am one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?
The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in ten years only gives us a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting up irreversible chain reactions beyond human control… but those numbers do not include tipping points most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution, or the aspects of equity and climate justice.
They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist…To have a 67 percent chance of staying below the 1.5 degree of temperature rise, the best odds given by the IPCC, the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on January 1, 2018.
Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons. How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as usual and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 that entire budget will be gone is less than 8 and a half years. There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.
You are failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this, right here, right now, is where we draw the line. The world is waking up, and change is coming whether you like it or not.
Incidentally, there is a 121-year old photograph circulating on the Internet of three teenagers working in a gold mine in Yukon Territory in Canada, one of whom bears a most striking resemblance of Thunberg. This has led to a conspiracy theory that the climate change activist is a ‘time traveller’ returning to save the planet. (See https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/121-year-old-photo-sparks-greta-thunberg-conspiracy-theory-211635110.html.)
After a well-deserved two-month break, we resume our column today by continuing where we left off in our article of 2 September 2019 on the above subject. As at this date, the Chief Justice had ruled that the house-to-house registration of voters was not illegal or unconstitutional. However, it would be unconstitutional to remove the names of persons from the current list of voters unless the persons have died or have become ineligible; or to exclude the names of eligible persons who have not registered during the house-to-house registration. She further ruled that National Registration Act must be strictly complied with as regards the removal of the names of persons.
Ending the house-to-house registration
Following the Chief Justice’s ruling, which was delivered on 14 August 2019, GECOM brought to a premature end on 31 August 2019 the house-to-house registration of voters. The registration exercise had commenced on 20 July 2019 and was to have ended on 20 October 2019. The Commission also agreed to merge the results obtained so far, with the existing voters’ list to arrive at a revised list for the National and Regional elections after an extended period of claims and objections. We had stated that the exercise would be a complicated and challenging one to arrive at a credible voters’ list within a reasonable period of time and had suggested the following:
(a) Use the existing voters’ list as the primary document and the starting point, and ‘sanitize’ it as far as possible by removing the names of persons who have died or otherwise disqualified;
(b) Compare the ‘sanitized’ list with the results of the house-to-house registration exercise and strike out from the house-to-house registration list all names that appear on the ‘sanitized’ voters’ list;
(c) Merge the amended house-to-house registration list with the ‘sanitized’ list; and
(d) Undertake a comprehensive period of claims and objections to arrive at the final list of voters to be used for the elections.
GECOM’s preparedness to hold elections
On several occasions, the President had stated that once he is informed of GECOM’s state of readiness to hold elections, he would announce the date for such elections. By letter dated 19 September 2019, GECOM’s Chair informed the President that the Commission would be ready by the end of February 2020. The Commission had earlier met with the President at his request and gave the assurance that following its proposed meeting on 15 August, the Commission would be in a position to advise him on its readiness to hold elections.
Statement by the diplomatic community
Following the expiry of the three months after the Caribbean Court of Justice’s ruling on the no confidence vote, the diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom (UK), United States and the European Union (EU) issued a joint statement in which they stated that ‘by surpassing September 18, the Government is currently in breach of the Constitution following its failure to adhere to the decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on 18 June and its subsequent orders’.
The President responded by asking that the Government be given some time to resolve the issue. He considered that he would be in violation of the Constitution if he were to announce the date for elections without due consideration about GECOM’s readiness. The President re-emphasized that the Commission is an independent constitutional agency, and it would be inappropriate for the Executive to arbitrarily impose on that body a date for the holding of elections. However, as indicated in previous columns, GECOM ought to have been aware of Articles 61 and 70(2) of the Constitution relating to dissolution of Parliament as well as Article 106(7) dealing with the successful passage of a vote of no confidence in the Government. Both of these require elections to be held within three months. As such, the Commission should always be in a state of readiness to hold elections within this timeframe. There is no provision in the Constitution that requires the Commission to be ready first before announcing the date for elections. It is against this background that one suspects that the statement from the diplomatic community was made.
This notwithstanding, Article 106(7) does envisage that in the event that GECOM is not ready, the matter should be dealt with by the National Assembly. With the approval of not less than two-thirds of all the elected members, the three-month deadline can be extended for such longer period as the Assembly by resolution decides.
Announcement of the date for elections
In an address to the nation on 25 September, the President announced Monday, 2 March 2020 as the date for elections. He also indicated that it would be necessary for the National Assembly to convene to approve of a five-month the extension, that is, from 19 September. The Assembly, which was in recess at the time, was expected to reconvene on 10 October for the purpose of doing so. However, there has been no sitting of the Assembly since the President’s announcement, and therefore a constitutional violation remains.
The diplomatic missions of the UK, United States and the EU welcomed the announcement, stating that ‘it is now essential to ensure free and fair elections which we are pleased to support with elections assistance and monitoring along with other colleagues in the international community’.
By Article 61, ‘[e]lections shall be held on such day within three months after every dissolution of Parliament as the President shall appoint by proclamation…’ Considering this timeframe, the President has until 2 December to dissolve Parliament. He cannot do so earlier without bringing forward the date for the elections. The President had indicated that it is necessary to keep Parliament open in the event funds are needed to finance urgent activities not previous catered for.
Assuming that Parliament is dissolved on 2 December 2019, if funds are urgently needed thereafter until elections, recourse is the Contingencies Fund under the control of the Minister of Finance and not the National Assembly as in the case of the Consolidated Fund. By Article 221 of the Constitution, the Minister is authorized to make advances from the Contingencies Fund to meet expenditure on public services that (i) is urgent and unforeseen; (ii) has not been previously provided for; and (iii) cannot be postponed without jeopardizing the public interest. When such an advance is made, the Minister is required to table a Financial Paper as soon as is practicable in the Assembly to authorize the expenditure and to replenish the Contingencies Fund from the Consolidated Fund.
We will begin the new year without an approved budget. In accordance with Article 220 of the Constitution, pending the passing of the Appropriation Act (the budget), the Minister is authorized to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund to meet the cost of essential public services up to four months i.e. April 2020. By Section 36 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, such withdrawals shall be limited to one-twelfth of the 2019 Approved Estimates for each of these months. Additionally, no new capital expenditure works are to be initiated. Given these requirements, the National Assembly will need to convene in April 2020 to consider and approve the 2020 Estimates to enable funds to be made available for the remaining eight months of the year. There is no provision for the Minister to access the Consolidated Fund beyond April 2020.
Publication of Prelimanary List of Electors and providing for period of claims and objections
At its statutory meeting of 24 September, GECOM agreed to have the claims and objections period for 35 days. However, this was extended to 42 days. The Preliminary List of Electors (PLE), extracted from the National Register of Registrants database, was then published by Order issued by GECOM Chair dated 26 September. Claims and objections began on 1 October, and persons on the PLE were required to verify their registration for inclusion in the Official List of Electors. This is in contradiction to the Chief Justice’s ruling that it would be unconstitutional to remove the names of persons from the current list of voters unless the persons have died or have become ineligible. In the midst of opposition to this requirement, GECOM relented. It was no longer necessary for persons to visit GECOM offices to verify their registration.
The claims and objections period ended on 11 November during which period a total of 17,964 claims and objections were filed with GECOM countrywide. However, 13,747 were withdrawn before the hearings began. Of the remaining 4,217, only 395 were found to be valid.
Publication of house-to-house registration list
On 26 October, GECOM published the house-to-house list consisting of 370,000 names as an attachment to the PLE. However, as in the case of the PLE, no Order was issued. That apart, the Commission has not decided on how the merger of this list with the PLE will take place, as its Secretariat was still reviewing the data.
