Gov’t illegal on March 22 without extension – Ramkarran

The Court of Appeal should give “appropriate guidance” on what happens if there is no agreement to extend the March 21 deadline for the holding of general elections, Senior Counsel and co-founder of the ANUG political party Ralph Ramkarran says while also arguing that the government would become illegal.’

Referring to President David Granger’s speech on Friday to the nation where he said the government was acting in compliance with the constitution, Ramkarran, in his column in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek said: “Notwithstanding the President’s use of selected articles of the Constitution to justify his untenable views as to the current state of affairs, created by the Government’s failure to fix a date for elections before March 21, the Government becomes illegal on March 22. One of two things ought to have happened by March 21; namely, elections ought to have been held, or the life of the National Assembly extended. Neither occurred, despite the decision of the Chief Justice (ag) that elections have to be held in three months after December 21, the date of passage of the no-confidence motion. The Government insists that it has a right to be heard in Court and in doing so, insists that it has a right to violate the Constitution while awaiting the Court’s verdict. President Granger blithely ignores the nation’s right to elections and relies on the invented veto which he has accorded to the Elections Commission.