Speaker Manzoor Nadir has said that it is not the legislature’s responsibility to inform the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of a vacancy in the National Assembly rather it communicates directly with the Representative of the List of Candidates to fill the vacancy.
Ultimately there will be two vacant seats on the Opposition side of the National Assembly when the resignation of former Minister of Education Dr Nicolette Henry takes effect on March 31, 2022. The first vacancy was created when former Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon resigned on March 15, 2022.
On March 19, Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud had told Stabroek News that the Clerk of the National Assembly was yet to inform him of the vacancy and that he cannot write to the Leader of the List to advise him to extract a replacement name.
“It is the same thing as with the municipalities and so on. I cannot just write the leader [of the list] without being notified even if I read about the vacancies in the media and what the media writes about it. What I can say is that as of Thursday [March 17], and I was in the office until after 7[pm], we did not receive anything from the Clerk [of the National Assembly relating to the empty seat],” Persaud had said.
Yesterday, Persaud told this newspaper that he has not yet heard from the Clerk of the National Assembly in relation to the vacancy.
“Until I have heard from the National Assembly of a vacancy, I cannot ask the Leader of the List to fill one. I cannot act on what is reported in the press, I have to wait on the official information,” Persaud said.
When contacted, Clerk Sherlock Isaacs told Stabroek News that he is currently on leave and cannot say if a letter has been dispatched or not.
However, when contacted, Nadir said it is not the National Assembly’s role to write to GECOM informing of a vacancy.
“The National Assembly does not inform GECOM of any vacancy. It informs the leader of the list,” he reiterated.
When asked if he has written to former President David Granger, who is the leader of the list of candidates for the APNU+AFC, Nadir replied in the negative.
“I was out of the country and Mr Granger was out of the country as well. He wrote to me to say he was out of the country and now I am back so those letters [informing of the vacancies] will be dispatched shortly,” Nadir said without indicating when the letters are expected to be sent to Granger.
When a Member of Parliament resigns there then exists a vacancy in the House that the party in question would have to fill. It is then the duty of the Clerk of the National Assembly to inform GECOM and the CEO. It is on that basis the CEO would then write to the Representative of the List of that party — Granger in this instance — requesting that they extract a name from the list they would have submitted before the elections. The name of that person is then extracted and the Representative of the List then writes to GECOM informing them of the proposed replacement so that a certificate of election could be issued.
The PNCR disclosed weeks ago that Granger has been written to inform him that current party leader Aubrey Norton should be named as one of the replacements. The party is yet to decide on a name to fill the other seat but there are senior members advocating for the return of Volda Lawrence to the House citing her vast political and financial knowledge.
Questions remain as to what Granger will do when he is invited to name replacements. The PNCR has argued that it is the party that must make these decisions and Granger simply implements them.
The failure to have Norton enter parliament up to now has resulted in there being no Opposition Lead-er as the previous holder Joseph Harmon resigned after pressure was brought against him by supporters of Norton.
