The attorneys for the parties involved in the two appeals filed by Attorney General Basil Williams SC in response to Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire’s decisions on the December 21, 2018 no confidence motion, will meet tomorrow with staff of the Guyana Court of Appeal.
Stabroek News was informed yesterday that the 9:15 am meeting is a “private” one and will focus on the arrangements with respect to the preparation of the records of appeal.
Thereafter, this newspaper was told that the court will either send out notices for hearing of the appeals or will invite all parties to a case management hearing where all timelines and dates for hearings will be agreed to.
Williams last Tuesday appealed the decision in the action he brought against Speaker Dr. Barton Scotland and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and the decision in the action initiated by chartered accountant Christopher Ram. Subsequently he asked the Court of Appeal for orders to stay the effects of two judgments and to keep the president, the Cabinet and government in place until his appeals are heard and determined.
One of his arguments in the latest set of court filings is that without a Cabinet, no funding can be made available to the Guy-ana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the holding of elections. Identical reasons were also listed in the affidavits in support by State Counsel Raeanna Clarke.
In each case, the court is being asked to grant an order for an interim stay of the effect of the judgment and order(s) of Justice George-Wiltshire until the hearing and determination of the Summons filed; an order for a stay of the effect of the judgment and order(s) until the hearing and determination of the appeal filed, a conservatory order, preserving the status quo ante that the President, Cabinet and all Ministers of the Govern-ment remain in office until the hearing and determination of the appeal; and such further or other order as the Court may deem just.
The vote from then government parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud in favour of a PPP/C-sponsored no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC administration tipped the scales 33 to 32 in its favour.
Consequently, Scotland ruled that the motion was carried. Government accepted the ruling but subsequently asked him to reconsider and reverse it. However, Scotland declined and indicated that the court be approached for redress.
The first court action was filed by Berbice farmer Compton Reid against Persaud, Scotland and the AG. The court later granted applications for Harmon and Jagdeo to be added as interested parties. The case challenged the validity of Persaud’s vote given that he has Canadian citizenship. According to the Constitution, this would have made him ineligible to be elected as a member of the National Assembly. Stabroek News was told yesterday that Reid’s attorneys are still working on an appeal which is expected to be filed shortly.
The second case was filed by the AG against Scotland and Jagdeo. Harmon was also added to this case, which contended that the support of an “absolute majority” of 34 of the 65 elected Members of Parliament was needed for the confidence motion to pass.
The third case was filed on behalf of Ram and listed Jagdeo and the AG as the respondents. In this action, Ram asked the court, through his attorney Kamal Ramkarran, to uphold the passage of the no-confidence motion and to declare that the President and his Cabinet should immediately resign as a result.
Last Thursday, attorneys Roysdale Forde and Olayne Joseph on behalf of Harmon filed two appeals noting that there is dissatisfaction with both decisions in their entirety, including that the vote of Charrandass Persaud was valid even though he was disqualified from being an elected member of the National Assembly given his Canadian citizenship.
The appeals were filed in the cases brought by Reid and the AG.
The CJ’s decisions were delivered to the Court of Appeal and all relevant parties on Monday, five days after she had given a commitment to do so.
