Conversation Tree

President Granger last Friday said that “the Government is conducting its affairs in accordance with the Constitution and with respect for the rule of law.” He sought to convince the nation that it was the Speaker of the National Assembly who directed the Government’s approach to the court and that the cooperation of the Opposition is necessary for credible elections.

The meetings last week between the President and the Leader of the Opposition and the President and the Guyana Elections Commission did not yield a solution to the impending constitutional crisis that has been dominating the news in recent weeks.

Guyanese can be excused for being baffled at the latest developments in the current political saga gripping the nation.

The crisis facing Guyana, due to get worse on March 22nd, when the Government loses its legal authority, was not the result of the actions of evil people.

The statement issued by the Bar Council of the Guyana Bar Association during last week quoted a dictum of the Chief Justice (ag) in the case of Attorney General of Guyana v Dr.

I usually post these articles on Facebook on Saturday evenings. Articles dealing with political issues usually attract a great deal of comment.

The Chief Justice ruled that the no confidence motion was lawfully passed on December 21st in the National Assembly by a 33-32 vote, and that the vote of Charrandass Persaud was lawful, notwithstanding that as a dual citizen he was unlawfully occupying his seat in the National Assembly.

By virtue of the now familiar Article 106(7) of the Constitution of Guyana, elections are due to be held within three months of the passage of a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly on December 21, 2018, that is, by the end of March.

Contradicting what appears to be the unanimous prevailing view that dual citizenship prohibits a Guyanese from being a member of the National Assembly, Counsel in the case brought by Christopher Ram argues to the contrary.

In a lengthy article, “Countries at the Crossroads 2011: Guyana,” written for “Freedom House” before the general elections of that year, Assistant Professor Joan Mars, of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice of the University of Michigan-Flint, said: “Elections are constitutionally due to be held in 2011.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland, having declined to reverse his declaration on December 21, 2018, that the no confidence motion against the Government had been carried on a vote of 33-32 in favour, has shifted the arena of contest to the Court.

Both the President and Prime Minister accepted the outcome of the confidence vote.

What transpired in the National Assembly on Friday evening was always a distinct possibility, with the Government’s one seat majority.

A scathing editorial in the Kaieteur News last Friday shockingly castigated Members of Parliament in most unparliamentary language, from which the title of this piece is taken.

Why has the Government failed to proceed with constitutional reform to implement the proposals contained in its manifesto for the 2015 general elections?

At the Georgetown mayoral elections on November 30, AFC Councillor Michael Leonard was nominated by his lone colleague.

The PNCR appears to have had no difficulty in accepting the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its appellate jurisdiction.

Firemen are first responders who are required to help and protect victims and their property.

Prior to the announcement of the date for local government elections, there was speculation, particularly in Opposition circles, that the Government would find reasons not to hold the elections.

Much discussion and debate has occurred since the elections of 2011 in relation to post-elections coalitions in Guyana.

Guyana’s main political parties will only be interested in constitutional reform to transform our ethno-political system if a sufficiently large portion of the electorate demands it.

President Granger’s address to the National Assembly completely omitted any reference to constitutional reform.

Stabroek News will forever be defined by its birth pangs from an authoritarian womb.

Local government elections are to be held on November 12th. With the polls, the never-ending stream of suspicions have emerged as the Government established new local government units and merged others.

Sex and politics intersected in an explosive controversy that has gripped the United States as Professor Christine Blasey Ford gave evidence last Thursday to the United States Senate about a sexual assault perpetrated against her in the summer of 1982 by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the US Supreme Court.

Of all the other Caricom countries, Guyana has enjoyed the closest relations with Trinidad and Tobago.

Ryan Crawford, whose middle name you will have to guess, is an attorney-at-law in practice in Berbice, and the son of the late Marcel Crawford, one of the Ancient County’s distinguished lawyers.

Those who advocate changes in the composition and method of selection of the members of the Elections Commission suffer from the ostrich syndrome.

Last Sunday, it was reported that a mother from Enmore on the East Coast had chased her three-year old son around the yard of their home and subsequently stabbed him several times.

Ivor Archie has been the Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) for ten years and is a prominent judicial personality in the Caribbean.

A report on the cost of food for each sitting of Parliament being $700,000 has triggered a particularly sharp debate about the cost and the alleged supply of alcohol.

The AFC declared on Monday last that it would be contesting the November 12 local government elections on its own.

An extensive debate is currently raging in the media on the Government’s lethargic approach in preparation for the oil industry.

It has long been recognized that the judiciary and its decisions are not and should not be immune from criticisms.

On Friday last, the New York Times (NYT) published a report, headlined ‘The $20 Billion Question for Guyana.’ It was a lengthy review of Guyana and the impact that the oil discovery by Exxon and its partners in its offshore Guyana venture is likely to have.

United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid an official visit to the UK on Thursday and Friday last week.

Charles Ramson (Jr) recently announced that he would seek the PPP’s nomination to be its presidential candidate for the 2020 general elections.

During the lifetimes of Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan, the PPP twice, unanimously, decided to support a two-term presidential limit.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, issued an invitation to President Granger to debate race, in the context of which political party in government has done more for African Guyanese.

The late Anthony Bourdain captured my attention and enraptured me several years ago by his brilliant storytelling.

It is with trepidation that I venture to write about an issue such as this, which invokes controversies from all sides.

I will stay away from the continuing controversies between the current and past Attorneys-General.

The total electoral devastation of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and the political exit door shown to former Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, by the Barbados electorate at the elections last Thursday, is an apt and decisive answer to the vicious attack Stuart made on the Caribbean Court of Justice earlier in the week, when referring to the judges derogatorily as ‘politicians in robes.’ It is not unusual for politicians to be peeved by court decisions.

I am not a monarchist and neither is Jeremy Corbin, the leader of the Opposition Labour Party, and many other British people.

When I read the headlines in SN yesterday morning, ‘AFC says constitutional reform still a priority,’ I could not feel a sense of elation.

Neither Marx nor his contemporaries would ever have believed that his name would survive for 200 years.

The offence of misconduct in public office carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Tit for tat politics have arrived with a vengeance. The APNU+AFC police has charged PPP supporters and the PPP has struck back by charging APNU supporters.

On Wednesday last the public was treated to a brilliant and expansive lecture by the former Chancellor (ag) of the Judiciary and now Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence at the University of Guyana, Carl Singh.

At the event marking the 100th Birth Anniversary of Cheddi Jagan sponsored by the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, former President Bharrat Jagdeo expressed fears that the general elections due in 2020 will be rigged.