Finding that the December 21st no-confidence motion against the David Granger administration was validly passed, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire SC yesterday said that the 33 votes in its favour constituted the needed majority of the 65-member National Assembly and that this should have triggered the immediate resignation of the Cabinet, including the President.
Justice George-Wiltshire further said there is a clear distinction between the Cabinet and the government and explained that even where the former resigns, there would still be a government, made up of the president and ministers, who are to perform their duties and functions until elections are held and a new government is sworn in. However, she noted that as a result of the finding that the resolution of the motion was carried by a majority of 33 to 32, the President and ministers cannot remain in government longer than three months within which elections are required to be held, unless a longer period is granted by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly in accordance with Article 106(7).
As promised, the judge yesterday afternoon handed down her decisions in the three court actions filed in wake of the controversial passage of the motion, which has left government scrambling to find ways to delay the holding of elections within the stipulated 90 days set out by the Constitution.
