The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will today boycott President David Granger’s address to parliament because it believes it is hypocritical to listen to him speak on democracy.
“You then come tomorrow to the Parliament which is the place our laws are born…our democracy is protected and then lecture us on good governance?” Leader of the Opposition and former President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday questioned.
“It will be a dereliction of our duties as MPs to sit and listen to another lecture on good governance when the President, the Executive, cannot respect the holder of a constitutional post and give him a fair hearing in this country,” he added.
The Opposition Leader was speaking at forum in a series his party held, at the Sleepin Hotel, on corruption.
At yesterday’s forum, the former President laced into Granger and his administration on a range of issues, singling out the President’s role in suspending trade unionist Carvil Duncan from Chairman-ship of the Public Service Commission (PSC), which Jagdeo feels is an abuse of the President’s executive powers.
“We will not listen to him. We will send a signal to the people of this country…that we will not allow the hollowing out of our democracy. If we do not stop the initial steps, they are going to grow into an avalanche of activities, aimed at denying us our rights,” he posited.
However, Jagdeo informed that the boycott tomorrow will be limited to the President’s address and the party’s members will return for the rest of the session’s business.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of the Presidency announced that President Granger, acting in accordance with Article 225 (6) of the Constitution, had suspended Duncan as Chairman of the PSC with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the proceedings of the Tribunal which is inquiring into whether he should be removed.
A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency said that in a letter dated October 10, 2016, Granger notified Duncan that in addition to his role as PSC Chairman, he is also suspended from performing the Constitutional functions as an ex-officio member of the Judicial Service Commission, the Police Service Commission and other functions as ex-officio member of the Commissions of the Board of the Guyana Defence Force.
The statement noted that Article 225 (6) states that, “If the question of removing the officer from office has been referred to a tribunal under this article, the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the prescribed authority, may suspend the officer from performing the functions of his office, and any such suspension may at any time be revoked by the President, acting in accordance with such advice as aforesaid, and shall in any case cease to have effect if the tribunal recommends to the President that the officer should not be removed from office.”
On September 15, the President under Article 225 (4) of the Constitution, appointed a Tribunal to inquire, investigate and recommend whether Duncan ought to be removed from office for inability to discharge the functions of his Constitutional posts following a criminal charge against him. Prior to that, the statement said that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had written to Duncan calling on him to explain why a Tribunal should not be appointed to investigate him but this letter went unanswered. Duncan has since said that he never received the correspondence. However, the statement yesterday said that the Tribunal is in receipt of evidence that the Prime Minister’s letter was delivered by the Guyana Post Office Corporation.
Last Saturday, Duncan alleged that he was offered a “financial package” in exchange for his resignation. Minister of State, Joseph Harmon has since denied the assertion. The statement yesterday said that both the President and Harmon had met with Duncan in an effort to have him voluntarily vacate the Constitutional positions he holds, since it is undesirable for someone who is facing criminal charges to hold those positions.
Duncan is currently facing a charge that he paid himself approximately $1M and allegedly conspired with former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Power and Light, Aeshwar Deonarine, for an unapproved transfer of approximately $27M into the latter’s personal account.
Members of the Tribunal, Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire, Justice (ret’d) Winston Patterson and Attorney-at-Law, Robert Ramcharran, are expected to present their report to the President on or before Monday, October 31, 2016, the statement said.
