Two civil society groups yesterday staged a small protest outside of the Ministry of the Presidency to push for President David Granger to announce a date for elections and the resignation of his Cabinet.
The protest was organised by founders of the Movement Against Parking Meters, which has since evolved into the Mass Action People’s Movement (MAPM). They declared that they will continue to protest until an election date has been announced and the Cabinet resigns.
Just about a dozen citizens, consisting mainly of youths, gathered outside of the Ministry of Presidency on Vlissengen Road, in Georgetown, with placards reading “Respect the constitution! Respect the People!”, “Stop the farce! Obey the constitution… Cabinet must resign now!” and “President Granger your legacy is at stake. Do the right thing, Cabinet must resign!”
The group protested from 12 pm to 1 pm.
While the turnout was small, executive member Don Singh said they are registering their concerns as citizens of the country. He stated that he expected the gathering to grow at future demonstrations.
Their action is in light of the passage of the no-confidence motion against the government in the National Assembly on December 21st, 2018, which requires the holding of early elections.
With it being 34 weeks since, the government lost the vote, Singh said it is time for civil society to call on the president to “do the right thing.”
“Well, I am hoping that the president preserves his legacy and listens to the people. We are not affiliated with any political party. We are civil society. We are just regular Joes coming and saying, ‘Hey boss, respect the Constitution. We think you are a man of integrity. Act like it,’” Singh emphasised.
Singh told Stabroek News that civil society has listened and observed all the legal proceedings and since the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) upheld the no confidence motion, it is time for the government to follow the Constitution.
“Whether we like it or not, a no-confidence motion happened. It happened… We have our president last week saying in his considered opinion, that Cabinet will continue to function with full powers and that is absolute nonsense,” he said.
He noted that Article 106(6) “is very, very clear. Cabinet and the President must resign… You can’t keep holding Cabinet meetings over and over and making decisions with the taxpayer’s dollars that is nonsense.”
Jonathan Yearwood, another concerned citizen, said his presence at the protest was to call for the government to respect the Constitution.
“We are asking that they respect the Constitution, which clearly states in Article 106 (6) that the President and Cabinet shall resign. Not should or anything, but shall resign. So far, the government has come out and said that they will not resign. They have no intentions of resigning, so right away they are going against the Constitu-tion. We are saying that they should respect the entire Constitution. They cannot pick and say which parts they are choosing to respect. The mere fact that they said that they will not resign shows that they are picking and choosing,” he argued.
Yearwood, who was a founding member of the MAPM, said that while he is now
affiliated with A New and United Guyana (ANUG), he was not representing the views of his party but the views of concerned citizens.
He stated that the government remaining in power illustrates its disrespect for the Constitution as it is only respecting parts of the Constitution selectively.
Yearwood indicated that while the government is continuing to rule under Article 106 (7), it needs to observe and comply with Article 106 (6).
Article 106(7) states that notwithstanding its defeat, the government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the elections.
Yearwood added, “They seem to be continuing with the mandate given to them by the people of Guyana but they have lost that mandate.”
Tracy Shamsudeen, a representative of another group, the Association for Democracy and Human Rights, told this newspaper that they too are calling for the Constitution to be respected by the president and his ministers. “We are here calling on the government to respect 106(6) and 106(7) calling on the executive to set an elections date so that we can move forward in Guyana. I am here as a civil servant of Guyana. I am out here hoping that the president can see that persons outside a political alignment are calling on him to set an election date,” she said.
