Despite the recent Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling that validated the passage of the December 21st no-confidence motion against government, the APNU+AFC Cabinet is continuing to meet and make decisions, which the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) condemned yesterday.
The PPP’s voiced its concerns yesterday after the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) released a statement indicating that Cabinet had approved a proposal to remove custodial sentences for persons found to be in possession of 30 grammes or less of marijuana.
“The APNU+AFC Coalition Government is currently illegal and Cabinet should have already resigned, consistent with Article 106 (6) of the Constitution and the recent ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). How then, is Cabinet meeting and making decisions?” a statement from the PPP yesterday questioned.
Although the (MoTP) later clarified that the approval was done in April, its Communications Director, Mark Archer, confirmed that “Cabinet met” and when questioned about the high ranking state officials still meeting and making decisions and if it was in contravention of the CCJ’s ruling, he said it was “not for me to say.”
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire had in February upheld the legality of the no-confidence motion and the APNU+AFC Cabinet subsequently decided not to meet as a Cabinet but instead did so as a “ministerial plenary.”
“It is noted that there is a judgment of the Court that was made with respect to the Cabinet and that judgement is appealed but we do not have a stay of the judgment as yet and, therefore, we have not held Cabinet meetings as such… Ministerial plenaries are chaired by the President and includes all of the ministers and therefore has all of the powers that a Cabinet can have,” then Minister of State Joseph Harmon had told a press conference in February.
When the lower court’s ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal in March, government announced that it cleared the way for Cabinet to resume meeting. “We have maintained that the judiciary has an important role to play, and the fact that the Court of Appeal by a majority decision has found that the no-confidence motion has fallen, the government continues to do business for which it has been elected and so we are assured by the decision of the court of appeal that there is need for review of decisions of the lower court,” Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had said.
The CCJ last month ruled against the Court of Appeal’s decision and said that the no-confidence motion had been validly passed.
Making reference to Harmon’s announcement in February, that government would not meet as a Cabinet but as a plenary, the PPP suggested duplicity on the administration’s part.
“If the Coalition Government accepted the High Court’s declaration of the no-confidence motions valid, why is there not similar acceptance of the ruling from the Caribbean Court of Justice, which is Guyana’s final Court? Does the Coalition not intend to comply with the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice?” the party questioned in its statement.
It quoted CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders as saying that the provisions of Article 106 (6) and (7) of the Constitution “are clear on their face,” with the former stipulating that the Cabinet, including the president, shall resign if the government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly ‘on a vote of confidence.’ Article 106(7) goes on to state that notwithstanding its defeat, the government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, the statement added.
