Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud yesterday refused to grant an interim stay of the High Court judgments on the no-confidence motion against government given the “strict” timelines that have been set for the hearing of the applications filed on behalf of the Attorney General (AG) and private citizen Compton Reid.
“I don’t see the need …the absolute urgency for the stay at this time,” Justice Persaud said towards the end of a scheduled hearing when Attorney General Basil Williams SC told the court that in asking for an interim stay he was relying on the ruling of the then acting Chancellor Carl Singh in the Desmond Morian case. Morian, a PPP member, initiated a legal challenge of the High Court’s ruling that APNU+AFC ministers Winston Felix and Keith Scott couldn’t hold seats in the National Assembly as non-elected Members of Parliament (MPs).