Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams has filed an application challenging the action brought by chartered accountant and attorney Christopher Ram, who has asked the High Court to declare the current house-to-house registration exercise being conducted by the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) to be unlawful.
Ram’s case is that the registration exercise is in violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the judgment and consequential orders made by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the consolidated cases stemming from the passage of a no-confidence motion against government last December.
Williams is arguing, however, that Ram’s challenge amounts to an abuse of process as he claims that the issues complained of have already been dealt with by the CCJ. He has advanced that in accordance with the principle of res judicata, the matter has already been finally settled by judicial decision and is not subject to further appeal.
On this point, he contends that Ram is bound by the legal doctrine of stare decisis, by which he would be required to stand by what has already been decided by the court.
In its ruling of June 18th, the Trinidad-based CCJ, Guyana’s final appellate court, ruled that the passage of a no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC government on December 21st, 2018, was valid and that the clear provisions of Article 106 immediately became engaged.
Article 106 (6) says 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) adds, “Not-withstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the elections.”
The AG’s affidavit advances that the doctrine of stare decisis precludes the Chief Justice, before whom Ram’s matter is set to come up on Friday, from granting the orders he is seeking, as it would require her to make the orders which the CCJ already ruled on.
According to Williams, in court documents seen by this newspaper, his application is made as a matter of public interest, while underscoring that the CCJ did not accede to the orders sought by Ram and that the orders currently being sought “are not dissimilar.”
The AG contends that the regional court “clearly underscored the sacred and sacrosanct doctrine of separation of powers” that underpin constitutional democracy, and in so doing refused to direct GECOM from executing its constitutional mandate.
He adds that the CCJ refused to get involved in “policy and political” matters. “The clear import is that the judiciary is not the competent body to address matters of politics and policy,” the AG says in his affidavit supporting his notice of application.
The AG is seeking a declaration that the court should not exercise its jurisdiction to hear or grant the orders being sought by Ram, or alternatively, that its strike out his action as being an abuse of the process of the court.
Williams is also seeking any further and other orders that the court may deem just to grant as well as an award of court costs to be borne by Ram.
While it has been government’s position that the house-to-house registration exercise is an important prerequisite to the holding of credible elections, both Ram and the opposition PPP/C say it would be in contravention of the Constitution.
GECOM has said that while it is undertaking the registration exercise, concurrent operational activities for the preparation of general and regional elections are also underway.
Ram is of the view that the house-to-house registration exercise is being undertaken in violation of the Constitution.
In his fixed date application, he notes that since the passage of a no-confidence motion against government last December, neither the Cabinet nor President has resigned; nor has the Head of State issued a proclamation dissolving the National Assembly or fix a date for elections to be held within the three months as is stipulated by Article 106 of the Constitution
