One day after being served with an injunction delaying their elections, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has advised its members that elections will be held as planned today.
The High Court has granted an interim injunction postponing the GPSU elections by nearly two weeks unless the executive council can produce the treasurer’s report for the past 12 years and the Auditor General’s report that was reportedly presented to it.
The application for the injunction, which was filed by attorney Nigel Hughes on behalf of Chairman of the union’s Guyana Geology and Mines Commission branch Gregory Gaspar, was heard on Wednesday and granted on Thursday by Justice Nareshwar Harnanan.
Though the injunction was served to all members of the executive council on Friday, an advertisement in Saturday’s Stabroek News advertised a list of polling places and times for the GPSU Election of Office bearers today.
The court order, seen by Stabroek News, states that that injunction will restrain the respondents “whether by themselves, their servants and or agents” from holding or attempting to hold an election for the executive council of the GPSU “until the 3rd day of May, 2017, or sooner on the production by the Respondents of the Auditor General’s report to the Applicant and members of the Guyana Public Service Union and the audited Treasurer’s report for the Guyana Public Service Union for the past 12 years to date.”
Among those named as respondents are GPSU President Patrick Yarde and members of the executive council.
The granting of the application comes just about a week after Gaspar would have moved to the High Court to have the council suspended until financial records were presented.
During a press briefing held last Thursday, it was stated that the grounds of the suit are that evidence exists that the council is in violation of union rules.
The action asks the court to suspend and/or remove the Executive Council until the Treasurer’s reports and/or the Auditor General’s reports for 2004 to 2017 are prepared and tabled at this April’s Biennial Delegates’ Conference. The Conference, according to the GPSU’s rule book, signifies the “Supreme Authority of the Union,” and it is there that the body elected in this month’s elections will be installed.
Gaspar’s action also calls for the appointment of an Interim Management Committee to function in the absence of the Council. That committee, it was stated, should be involved in preparing and presenting the Treasurer’s report for the period mentioned above, to be tabled at the Biennial Delegates Conference of the GPSU.
Late last month, protestors had started picketing for Yarde’s removal, while saying that his extended tenure in office was unlawful and that the council was in breach of union rules.
Soon after, the GPSU held a press conference during which some council members affirmed that they would continue to back Yarde as president should he be re-elected at the upcoming elections.
