The Government of Guyana has retained a former Attorney General (AG) of Belize to assist in its handling of the no-confidence motion appeal cases currently before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
During a case management conference last Friday, Senior Counsel Eamon Courtenay entered his name into the record as part of the government’s legal team. He took part in the conference via live conferencing from a location outside of Trinidad, were the CCJ is located.
The Guyanese-based lawyers took part in the proceedings via the same medium from the Guyana Court of Appeal in Kingston, Georgetown.
Courtenay has been a senior partner in the Belize-based law firm Courtenay Coye LLP since 2007 and his areas of practice, according to the firm’s website, include constitutional and administrative law.
The 57-year-old is a former Attorney General, a former Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade and a former President of the Bar Association of Belize. He has nearly 30 years of professional experience at the Belize bar and was elevated to Senior Counsel in 1998, just ten years after being admitted to practice.
The appeals of the rulings on the no-confidence motion that were filed are Christopher Ram against the Attorney General (AG), the Leader of the Opposi-tion and Minister of State Joseph Harmon; Bharrat Jagdeo against the AG, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Barton Scotland and Harmon; and Charrandass Persaud against Compton Herbert Reid, Dr Scotland, Jagdeo and Harmon.
The court has granted the appellants special leave to appeal the March 22nd decisions of the Guyana Court of Appeal, which invalidated the passage of the motion against the government. The lawyers will have to appear in court in person on May 10th, when oral arguments are scheduled. Written submissions are expected to be filed on agreed dates.
Government’s hiring of Courtenay comes at a time where there are still outstanding questions concerning Grenadian Queen’s Counsel Dr. Alexis Francis, who was part of the government’s legal team in the no-confidence cases at the Guyana Court of Appeal.
Government is yet to make public how much it paid for the services of Dr. Alexis, an expert in constitutional law who is also a former AG.
Asked about this during a post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon could not state the amount but advised that the question be directed to AG Basil Williams SC.
“…The gentleman has to be paid for his services,” he said before adding that Williams can provide more details. Harmon was unable to say whether Dr. Alexis will be part of the government’s team for the CCJ case.
Former AG Anil Nandlall has criticised Williams for sidestepping queries about how much Dr. Alexis has been paid
“It is obvious that the citizenry is concerned about and wants to know of the expenditure these cases are costing them as it was the subject of news stories by the press but the Attorney General has refused to make this information available to the public. Indeed, this is information, to which the public is entitled, as it involves the expenditure of public funds and, therefore, the Attorney-General has duty to disseminate this information to the public,” he argued.
Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory both accepted Dr. Alexis’s argument that the incorrect formula was used to tabulate the votes required and this resulted in the motion being passed by 33 votes to 32, rather than the needed “absolute” majority of 34.
On behalf of the Guyana government, he had reasoned that in Guyana’s 65-member National Assembly, half would result in a fraction of 32.5. If it is to be rounded to the next whole number, that figure will be 33 and, in accordance with the practice and the application of the meaning of majority, one has to be added to calculate a majority.
Both Courtenay and Dr. Alexis were also hired by the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) to give advice on whether Chief Justice Ivor Archie of Trinidad and Tobago should be impeached followed a report of alleged misconduct.
