Now holding that government became illegal due to the failure to hold elections by March 21st, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said the PPP/C would not recognise key actions taken after the passage of the no-confidence motion, including approval for a deal made by oil explorer CGX and the legal architecture for the oil revenues fund.
“Since March 21st, the government has been practising unconstitutional rule. It is a usurper… it is acting outside the provision. We were prepared to have this until September 18th. If they think this [litigation] really helped them, well they should think again. Any act committed after that period would be null and void,” Jagdeo told a press conference, while announcing that his party does not recognise the validity of the agreement made with CGX or the enactment of the critical Natural Resources Fund (NRF) law.
“I want to say to CGX that that extension [given] is not valid,” Jagdeo declared.
“The daily sale of land… they are all illegal. Not from the current date or September 18th, but March 21st,” he added.
“They tabled the Sovereign Wealth Fund and passed it in the period of the no-confidence motion. And, as far as we are concerned, it is invalid too and we said we will repeal it,” he added.
His pronouncement follows Wednesday’s ruling by Chief Justice on a challenge to the house-to-house registration exercise presently being undertaken by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), during which she observed that elections were due by March 21st given the passage of the motion against the APNU+AFC administration on December 21st.
Prior to her judgment, the opposition had held that polls were due by September 18th, three months from June 18th, when the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) rendered its judgment on the validity of the motion. The regional court, in its ruling, had observed that “Given the passage of the no confidence motion on 21 December 2018, a general election should have been held in Guyana by 21 March 2019 unless a two thirds majority in the National Assembly has resolved to extend that period. The National Assembly is yet to extend the period. The filing of the court proceedings in January challenging the validity of the no confidence vote effectively placed matters on pause, but this Court rendered its decision on 18 June 2019. There is no appeal from that judgement.”
Jagdeo said that the PPP/C had been willing to count the 90-day period not from December 21st, 2018, when government lost the confidence vote, but from June 18th, when the CCJ made its ruling.
Article 106 (6) of the Constitution 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, “Notwithstanding 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.”
In May of this year, government had announced that it had given approval for the Strategic Joint Venture between CGX Energy Inc. and Frontera Energy Corporation. The Canadian oil explorer Frontera Energy Corporation has a 33.33% working interest in CGX’s two offshore blocks following the joint venture agreement.
In the case of the NRF Bill, it was passed on January 4th of this year, with no objection as the opposition was not present. It was signed into law on January 23rd. It appears that with its new position, the opposition once again recognises the government as having an “interim” status at the time the bill was signed into law.
Repeating his call for President David Granger to uphold the constitution by dissolving Parliament and setting a date for the elections, Jagdeo yesterday reiterated that his party will never extend the National Assembly’s life. “We have already made it clear; there shall be no extension. We are not voting to extend the life of this government, period. That’s it. Therefore, the three months have expired several times now,” he said.
He said that he has problems with government in a “caretaker status” acting as if it ruling with full powers and entering into agreements, while promising deals on other fronts. Those acts, he stressed, will not be recognised should his party win the upcoming elections.
“I have problems with this government, in a caretaker role, that went to an investor conference in Trinidad and Tobago and was working out private deals. If you look at the back of Diamond, the Wales Estate, along Pradoville One and the new road alignment, you will see. The specialty hospital land is either gone or in negotiations,” he said.
Jagdeo used most of the press conference to reiterate that his party was satisfied with the Chief Justice’s ruling even as he called on GECOM and the President to “move swiftly” so that preparations can be started for elections.
Government has stated that it accepts its interim status and respects the decision of the CCJ but has maintained that Cabinet is still functioning, without explaining the inconsistency of that position with Article 106(6). Further, the president maintains that he first has to be advised by GECOM of its readiness for elections.
Critics have said Article 106(6) automatically triggers the resignation of the Cabinet, which is defined by the Constitution as comprising the President, Prime Minister, Vice Presidents and Ministers, upon the passage of a no confidence vote, and that by not resigning, the president and Cabinet are violating the Constitution.
However, President Granger has said that his APNU+AFC Cabinet, following the guidance of Attorney General Basil Williams, will not be resigning.
