Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday bemoaned the sloth with which the Appeal Court is dealing with the appeals of the no-confidence ruling even as he expressed hope that the issue will be placed on the agenda of the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.
“We have noticed that a week has passed and the Chancellor has not set the hearing of the appeal as yet,” Jagdeo told Stabroek News yesterday. “The High Court treated the matter expeditiously but it seems it is not receiving the same type of attention at the Court of Appeal,” he added.
The Attorney General’s Chambers on Thursday said it corrected the errors in the two summonses filed on Attorney General Basil Williams’ behalf as part of the appeals of two of the judgements delivered by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire on the validity of the no-confidence vote against the government.
Stabroek News understands that the corrected summonses were filed in keeping with a commitment made to appellate judge Rishi Persaud on Wednesday.
The Chambers, in a press release on Thursday, said that the matters have been filed and that Williams anticipates a hearing date in the coming week. The Chambers did not release a copy of the corrected documents.
Justice Persaud on Wednesday had informed all the interested parties that he could not commence the hearing of the summonses since some of the information on them was erroneous. In one case, a second appeal was filed with the correct information but the initial appeal, which was defective, was not withdrawn.
In addition to two appeals, Williams had approached the court for a stay of the Chief Justice’s judgments and conservatory orders to keep the President, the Cabinet and government in place until the appeals are heard and determined.
At the start of the proceedings, the judge made it clear that he could not hear the cases as they did not list all the respondents. In the AG’s case against Christopher Ram, which was the first to be called, he also pointed out that a fresh Notice of Appeal was filed and though it listed all of the respondents, it was dated February 15th, while the accompanying summons was dated February 5.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo said that he will have another meeting with representatives from the international community today.
He informed that he has written to the respective heads of CARICOM states and has met with the CARICOM Chairman, President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse. He said that the Chairman has assured him that “CARICOM was looking into the matter.”
“The Secretary General of Common-wealth also made a statement calling for the expeditious hearing and we too have made that call,” he said.
The 30th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM will take place from 26-27th February 2019, at the St Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino.
Jagdeo said that he does not know if Guyana’s looming “constitutional crisis” will be on the agenda but because of the seriousness, he is hoping it is. “I am not sure but I am hoping that they do because all the heads were written to,” he said.
The Opposition Leader has said that he expects both international condemnation and the imposition of personal sanctions on members of the government if the polls are not held by the March 21 deadline.
By all indications, the elections will not be run off by then. By a majority vote, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) last Tuesday decided that it would advise President David Granger that the 90-day constitutional deadline for general elections cannot be met and that it will continue with its approved work plan for the year, including a national house-to-house registration process. Jagdeo’s party, the PPP/C, has been calling on GECOM to prepare for elections as a consequence of the December 21st passage of the no confidence motion.
He asserted that after the March deadline passes, the government goes into “unconstitutional territory.”
Jagdeo said that he is currently exploring the idea of taking legal action against the APNU+AFC administration and GECOM if there is no election by next month’s deadline. “I have not explored it in great detail as yet to see, one, about its likelihood to succeed, whether you can go under dereliction of duty or that there is some more fundamental violations there at GECOM,” he said. The opposition leader added that so far, he has gotten two sets of legal options and he would like to solicit a few more before his party makes a decision.
The PPP, according to Jagdeo, will be seeking sanctions against the executive, GECOM and some of its commissioners. He explained that these “personal” sanctions can take the form of the freezing of bank accounts and prohibition of travel.
