A proclamation by President Donald Ramotar to prorogue or dissolve parliament would have to be published in the Official Gazette before it takes legal effect and suspends or terminates the proceedings of the House.
“The…proclamation must be gazetted before it becomes of legal effect,” AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan told Stabroek News yesterday. President Donald Ramotar yesterday said that he has already made a decision on whether to prorogue (suspend) or dissolve parliament and Ramjattan said that he understands that the Gazette has already been printed. He said that he was stonewalled when he attempted to confirm this with officials.
The parliamentary opposition is expected to push through a no-confidence motion against the government during the sitting of the National Assembly today, which if passed, would force the President and his Cabinet to resign and general elections would have to be held within three months.
President Ramotar has threatened to either prorogue (suspend) or dissolve Parliament if the opposition proceeds with the vote. From all indications, once the opposition moves forward with the motion today, the President would prorogue parliament. Attorney-General Anil Nandlall has urged the opposition to reconsider and in talking-up the prorogation option, in an interview with Stabroek News, he had said that the suspension of the House presents a “golden opportunity” for both sides to agree on an agenda.
Explaining what would likely occur should government prorogue parliament today, Ramjattan told Stabroek News that the government would have to publish the presidential proclamation in the Official Gazette, likely in an extraordinary supplement of the Gazette. He stressed that the proclamation has to be published in the Gazette before it takes legal effect. “The gazetting is what completes the process of proclamation,” the attorney said.
He said that the government can then make its decision known either this morning, just before, or during the sitting of the National Assembly.
According to Ramjattan, the administration is waiting to see whether any opposition member “falls away,” or does not turn up, then it will unveil its move. He said that the government can make the announcement either this morning or when parliamentarians file in for the 2pm sitting, the copy of the Gazette containing the proclamation could be waiting on their desks.
However, if the government waits until the sitting begins, at any point during the time the no-confidence motion is being presented, any member but more likely leader of government business in the House, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds or government’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira can move to make an announcement. According to Ramjattan, the member would announce to the Speaker that the president has issued a proclamation to suspend or dissolve parliament. The Speaker would likely ask for the proof and the Gazette would be produced “and so the Speaker by law has to terminate the proceedings forthwith.”
The government would likely wait until the proceedings begin before making its move, Ramjattan said. “Otherwise, if (the President) wanted to prorogue, he could have prorogued immediately after he made the announcement (on Tuesday),” he said.
Prorogation would win the government breathing room of up to six months before the Constitution stipulates that it has to recall Parliament again. Article 69 (1) of the Constitution says, “Each session of Parliament shall be held at such place within Guyana and shall begin at such time (not being later than six months from the end of the preceding session if Parliament has been prorogued or four months from the end of that session if Parliament has been dissolved) as the President shall appoint by proclamation.”
However, given the timing, it could be less as the Constitution also stipulates that the national budget has to be passed before the end of April.
