As with Cedric Richardson, his counterpart in the third term case, farmer, Compton Reid took on the task as a citizen of challenging the validity of the vote of former APNU+AFC MP Charrandass Persaud as a means of nullifying the December 21, 2018 motion of no-confidence which had initially ended the term of the government.
Mr Reid’s civism has brought with it the definitive declaration from the courts that for decades, members of both sides of the political aisle had callously and conveniently ignored the constitution proscription against dual citizens sitting as MPs. The insouciance of the MPs on both sides of the House and their political parties had come despite vigorous public debates on this matter led by Christopher Ram and others.
No doubt, Mr Reid and his sponsors would have been chagrined at the fact that not only has their legal effort to overturn the motion of no confidence failed at both the Supreme Court of Judicature and the Guyana Court of Appeal but that it has also had the unintended consequence of gouging a huge hole in the APNU+AFC administration.
After conflicting signals and words of defiance from its ministers over several days, the government has acknowledged that all four of Mr Persaud’s compatriots in transgressing the constitution: the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; the Minister with the responsibility for the public service in the Ministry of the Presidency, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin will resign.
In terms of the conduct of the government’s business and the political dynamics of the governing alliance, several of the departures will create major upheaval. Minister Harmon has functioned as the President’s principal assistant even if he is not formally the Prime Minister and no doubt saw himself as a candidate to succeed the President as evidenced by his bid to become the General Secretary of the PNCR. His resignation therefore will leave a gaping vacuum in a whole series of endeavours that he has been engaged in.
While the government will now apparently create an advisory role to cover this major backfire from Mr Reid’s legal action, Mr Harmon will no longer conduct his business with the fiat and imprimatur of the Minister of State. The loss of this cover will diminish his authority and effectiveness particularly in an environment where there are clearly various competing forces at work in the administration. The government is still to set out clearly how the portfolio of the Minister of State will be reallocated.
As with the two letters from the President to the Guyana Elections Commission on the same day, a fair amount of disarray seems to be attending government business. After issuing a statement early on the morning of Tuesday that the resignations of the four APNU+AFC MPs had been accepted, a statement followed the next day in the name of President Granger that the resignations would not take effect until the constitutional procedures governing the departure of MPs are fulfilled.
One can’t help but surmising that as evidenced by the conflicting signals which had originally come from several of the affected ministers, there is a significant division in the government over how this matter of the dual citizen ministers should have been handled. Mr Persaud had been quickly replaced by the machinery after he became the object of the government’s opprobrium on December 21st. It is unclear what should now pose a delay when the ministers have been caught in a clear act of illegality and such illegality perforce does not require a resignation but immediately disqualifies them from their positions as MPs.
Aside from the Minister of State, the country now faces a serious dilemma as a result of the imminent vacating of office by Minister Greenidge. This is particularly so at this juncture with the ever-deteriorating situation in Venezuela, the need for constant vigilance in CARICOM on Caracas’s adventurism, the live case before the International Court of Justice pertaining to the border controversy and the need for active engagement with the US, the UK, Canada and the EU on oil and gas and the political situation here, among other matters. The government can ill-afford his departure at this point. As a longstanding international civil servant, Minister Greenidge has been able to take full command of his portfolio.
In its announcement of the resignation of the four MPs, the government had said that their positions would be filled by those who have customarily acted for them. This would be wholly unacceptable as it pertains to the foreign affairs portfolio. A substantive appointment of a candidate adequately equipped for the position must be made by the government for the remainder of its term in office. This is necessary for the preservation of the vital interests of the country in relation to the various matters that are extant.
The portfolios of business and the public service will be easily taken care of. The last four months have created political and economic instability in the country of an order that is yet to be fully understood and determined. This is continuing. The point will be made over and over by historians that it arose from the abject failure of the government to properly manage its slender one-seat majority in Parliament. This incompetence must not put the country further at risk by diminished attention to the important matters being addressed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
