In the introduction to last week’s article, we made brief reference to the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn the ruling of the former acting Chief Justice on the “2012 budget cuts” case. From the very inception, we had indicated our disagreement with the ruling which we felt contributed enormously to: (a) the difficulties associated with the approval of the 2013 and 2014 budgets and the resulting tensions emanating from such approval; (b) the incurrence of excess expenditure of $4.544 billion in defiance of the wishes of the National Assembly; (c) the motion for a vote of no confidence in the Government; (d) the prorogation and subsequent dissolution of Parliament; and (e) the holding of fresh elections after three years. Indeed, we believe that the ruling was a major contributor to the recent change in the political landscape of Guyana.
Today, we examine the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the Chief Justice’s ruling,