While Attorney General Basil Williams says that a “crisis situation” will result if the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) does not return to the National Assembly, his predecessor and PPP executive Anil Nandlall says government must absorb that blame as his party remains adamant that it will not be returning to the House.
“The truth is that the Eleventh Parliament of Guyana expired when the life of the Government expired,” Nandlall yesterday told Stabroek News.
“So constitutionally, there is no longer a lawful parliament to which the Opposition can return. Again, as much as they would deny responsibility for this disaster, history will properly hold them responsible,” he added.
Speaking last Friday, at the weekly press conference of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Williams noted that three months have expired for the holding of elections and argued that despite the election date having been proclaimed a parliamentary extension is required.
He told reporters that “the Leader of the Opposition has been saying that he is not interested, but of course he is free to say whatever he likes in Church Street or on the streets of Georgetown or on the streets of Guyana…the real test is when Parliament resumes and the matter is called, he must go there and say that he is not complying with the Constitution.”
“Once he does that, obviously, it would create a crisis situation which will imply the doctrine of necessity,” he claimed.
On September 25th, President David Granger announced that March 2nd 2020 is the earliest date for general elections based on a timeline provided by the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM).
At the time Granger said that Parliament would meet on October 10th for the purpose of requesting an extension of the three-month period for the holding of general elections in the aftermath of a successful motion of no-confidence. Such an extension would require the support of the opposition as two-thirds of the votes of the elected members of the Assembly would be needed.
But following a declaration from Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo that the PPP/C would not support an extension, Granger stated that elections would be held on March 2nd, whether or not the opposition returns to the Assembly.
Parliament Office has not yet sent out any notification for a sitting of the National Assembly on October 10.
Nandlall said that Williams’ trying to blame the opposition cannot hold water and in his opinion the Attorney General is incorrectly applying the doctrine of necessity.
“In my opinion, the doctrine of necessity cannot assist. This doctrine applies when a crisis presents itself for reasons and circumstances that are unforeseen, unpredictable and unavoidable – not when it is intentionally caused either by omission or commission. In the circumstances, the Attorney General is hereby assured that the opposition will not buy his bluff and will not attend an illegal and unconstitutional Parliament,” he said.
“That Guyana will move into a “crisis” unless the PPP returns to the National Assembly to extend the life of the Government, though preposterous, is the well-known modus operandi of this gentleman. The public record is replete with instances whereby Mr. Williams has blundered and finds a scapegoat to blame for his unparalleled ineptitude,” he added.
Nandlall opined, that as government’s principal legal advisor under the Constitution, Williams’ “unreserved duty was, upon the successful passage of the no confidence motion in the National Assembly on December 21, 2018, to advise the Government that in accordance with Article 106(6) and (7) of the Constitution, Cabinet, inclusive of the President, must immediately resign and the Government, though defeated, should remain in office for the purpose of holding elections within three months from that date, unless an extension is granted by a two-thirds vote of the National Assembly, to a date beyond that three-month period.”
“Instead, to defeat and subvert those Constitutional imperatives, he chose to lead the Government into an expensive and futile journey of litigation which spiralled all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and as every rational mind would have predicted, the Government lost,” he added.
According to Nandlall, the matter was further compounded by more ill advice. “Even further, rather than advising the Government to obey the clear directions given by the CCJ and comply with the Constitution, he advised the Government to proceed on a path of constitutional confrontation. He argued both in the courts [in the challenge to the house to house registration filed by Christopher Ram] and in the media that there is no constitutional deadline for the holding of elections, notwithstanding that is was clear to every Guyanese other than the Government, that the CCJ intimated that the deadline for holding elections was September 18, 2019,” he stressed.
Further, he added, “now that September 18th has long gone, he cries wolf that Guyana will go into crisis if the Opposition does not return to the National Assembly to extend the life of the Government. Total poppycock! Guyana lunged into constitutional crisis one minute beyond midnight on September 18th. The Attorney General and the Government were the sole and exclusive architects of this constitutional tragedy.”
