Parliament should be considered automatically dissolved given the constitutionally mandated period for general elections, according to former two-term Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran.
In his column in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday entitled `I’ll stop Boris Johnson breaking the law, says the British Speaker. But who will stop APNU+AFC from doing the same?’ , Ramkarran pointed out that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had ruled that general elections should have already been held by March 21st this year. Abidance by that date would have seen the 11th parliament being dissolved sometime before. This did not occur as President David Granger’s government challenged the validity of the December 21, 2018 motion of no confidence.
However, on June 18 this year, the CCJ upheld the motion of no confidence and said that article 106 (6) and (7) were in effect as of the date of the judgment meaning that elections should now be held by September 18. That date is fast approaching and without a parliamentary extension of the period questions have been raised about the status of Parliament and the government.
Ramkarran, who played a key role in the reform of the Constitution between 1999 and 2001, said “The latest possible time on the most generous interpretation of the CCJ’s ruling is that elections should have been held by September 18. But the CCJ did say that elections ought to have been held by March 21 after the passage of the no confidence motion on December 21. It means that by March 21, no National Assembly ought to have been in existence. It ought to have been dissolved long before that date in preparation for the elections. Even allowing for the later date of September 18, which is coming Wednesday, the National Assembly should have been already dissolved”.
He noted that the dissolution of Guyana’s Parliament occurs in two ways – by proclamation by the President or automatically, five years from the date when the Assembly first meets after any dissolution.
“The President’s discretion is absolute only in one respect, that is, if he wishes to call elections before the time is due. The President has no discretion where elections are lawfully due. He/She would normally dissolve the Parliament when elections are lawfully due. But if he/she does not, the Assembly would automatically dissolve at the time set out above”, Ramkarran argued.
He noted that Article 106 of the constitution, which provides for elections in three months (or longer if Parliament extends the time) after a no confidence motion, does not make allowance for a dissolution.
“But by any reasoning or analysis, the Parliament ought to have been dissolved by now in preparation for elections by September 18. Not having been formally dissolved by a proclamation issued by the President, the implied power exists in the Constitution for its automatic dissolution. Since the Parliament is now without any legal status, it is for our Speaker (Dr Barton Scotland) to apply the `procedural creativity’ (recently) referred to by the Speaker of the (UK) House of Commons (John Bercow) and declare that having regard to all the circumstances, and that since elections ought to have been held by now, or are soon to be held, the continued existence of Parliament is a legal anomaly which ought not to continue. It also perpetuates a fraud against the Guyanese people by holding back elections. The Speaker should declare that Parliament cannot be convened on October 10, when its recess ends, as it is not in lawful existence”.
Stabroek News made several attempts to contact Speaker Scotland at Parliament Office over recent days to discuss the matter of the life of Parliament to no avail. On Monday September 9th, the Speaker was approached by a Stabroek News reporter at the Marriott Hotel on the occasion of the reception for the Liza Destiny but declined to comment on the matter.
Last week, the Parliament Office sent out a notification for the handing over of the Auditor General’s report on September 30th.
Article 70 (3) of the Constitution says that “Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date when the Assembly first meets after any dissolution and shall then stand dissolved”.
President Granger has said that there will be no dissolution of parliament or the naming of an elections date until he is advised by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of its preparedness. This matter has now been with the new Chair of GECOM, retired justice Claudette Singh since July 29th.