Attorney Anil Nandlall has filed an application on behalf of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, to strike out the lawsuit calling on him to disclose the academic certificates which PPP/C presidential candidate Irfaan Ali claims he has.
Among other things, Nandlall is arguing that the proceedings have no cause of action and constitute an abuse of the process of the court.
His position is that while eligibility of a presidential candidate “may be” a question for the court, suitability, he said, is a question for the electorate while advancing that the suit filed does not question Ali’s eligibility.
Two weeks ago, private citizens Dianna Deravinne Rajcumar and Phillip Marcus moved to the High Court over lingering questions about Ali’s academic bona fides, arguing that they are entitled to know the qualifications of the presidential hopeful as with any other, before deciding to vote for a particular candidate.
Against this background, they are calling on the opposition leader—Jagdeo, to make a full disclosure.
Speaking to reporters following an in-chamber hearing before Justice Franklyn Holder yesterday afternoon, Nandlall said that the challenge questions Ali’s suitability which according to him the court has no jurisdiction to deal with.
He emphasized that this is within the remit of the electorate.
Nandlall noted that the qualifications for a person to be president are set out in Article 90 of the constitution, which he says Ali satisfies, while stating that the proceedings do not challenge Ali on those grounds.
“They challenge him on something else,” counsel contended.
The lawyer said that the action has its basis in the constitution but that the relevant provisions of the constitution are not identified.
He then turned to the issue of Jagdeo being named a respondent in the suit which he argues ought not to have been “as a matter of law in constitutional proceedings.”
Such proceedings, he said, can only be instituted against agencies of the state with coercive powers, while noting that Jagdeo is not an agent of the state and has no such powers.
He explained that Jagdeo no longer even holds the position of opposition leader since that office expired with the dissolution of parliament.
According to Nandlall, most importantly Jagdeo has no public duty, “certainly not to these two persons,” (the applicants, Rajcumar and Marcus) to produce Ali’s certificates.
The court is set to rule next Thursday on Nandlall’s application.
In their fixed-date application, Rajcumar and Marcus want the court to order the disclosure of Ali’s certificates.
Ali, who is seeking to win enough votes at the March 2nd general and regional elections and become leader of the country, has been dogged by questions about the authenticity of his academic qualifications.
He is also currently facing 19 fraud charges over the allocation of house lots to fellow Cabinet members and other persons in the Pradoville 2 Housing Scheme during his tenure as Housing Minister. The basis of the charges is that the lands were sold far below market value.
Early last year, the former Minister of Housing under the PPP/C government faced questions over his academic credentials as there was no evidence forthcoming that the school which provided him with a transcript for entry into an Indian university on a Government of Guyana scholarship was ever accredited here.
Pressed repeatedly for answers on the issue, Ali eventually took to his Facebook page, declaring that he had made all his transcripts and certificates public there, and stating that he would be making no further comments on the matter.
Former president Jagdeo, too, when questioned at a press conference for answers regarding Ali’s qualifications, had shut down questions on the issue, stating that Ali would be answering no further questions relating to his qualifications.
“If you go on my Facebook page, I don’t know if it is still there, I shared, as I said, all my certificates. There are many, many certificates …they all have credits for them. What is out there, I stand by and this is all I have to say on the matter,” Ali had told his first press conference since his election as his party’s presidential candidate.
On his Facebook page, however, no photographs or any other material related to his credentials were ever found by this newspaper.
The applicants have said that they will be exercising their right to vote in the upcoming general and regional elections and have been keenly following the information on the various lists and presidential candidates contesting, and have noted that information concerning Ali’s qualification as a presidential candidate has been in some instances withheld and otherwise alleged to be false.
The duo is contending that Ali’s prevarication on providing clarification of his qualifications has led to them seeking clarification through the courts.
Rajcumar and Marcus are being represented by attorney Stephen Lewis.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Elections Commission which is listed as the other respondent in the matter is being represented by the chambers of the attorney general.
