A ruling is expected to be delivered soon, in the action brought by the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) against Government’s refusal to pay its $68 million monthly subvention.
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC, said that notices will be sent informing of the date for her decision which she said she intends to deliver in the “shortest possible time.”
When the matter came up yesterday for clarification the Court wanted on certain points, attorney for IDPADA-G, Vivian Williams, contended that his client has a legitimate expectation to the disbursement of the funds.
He said that this was backed by the series of commitments made by the David Granger administration which were “clear and unambiguous,” and were still to be carried out by the current PPP/C government.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC argued, however, that legitimate expectation is not contingent on any legal right.
He questioned, too, the source of the contract on which Williams sought to rely to ground his argument for legitimate expectation.
He said that if every time a politician spoke, their commitments formed the basis of a legally binding contract, that in itself would be problematic to enforce; even as he said that the commitment made by Granger does not illustrate that there had been any intention to create legal relations, and therefore any legally binding contract.
Further to that, he said that it is within the ambit of the Executive of the day, to, based on its discretion, effect changes in policies as it sees fit.
Following the hearing, the Chief Justice said that notices will be sent informing when she will deliver her ruling.
Nandlall had filed an application for an additional affidavit in defence to be allowed. Apart from the fact that the application was made out of time, however, the Chief Justice denied him.
She said that there was nothing new being raised in that application, but rather the same issues raised in the original defending affidavit, just in a different form.
Background
Last December, the IDPADA-G moved to the courts over Government’s refusal to pay its $68 million monthly subvention.
Among other things, the body is seeking an order of mandamus directing the Minister of Finance to immediately pay to it, the sum that the Government has committed to.
The move by the organisation came months after the Government abruptly stopped the monthly payment forcing it among others things, to send staff members home and discontinue some of its activities.
IDPADA-G is seeking damages to be determined by the Court, and an order from the court for the government to immediately pay over the funds it committed to pay which was passed by the National Assembly and formed part of the appropriation bill signed by President Irfaan Ali.
Attorney Nigel Hughes – one of IDPADA-G’s other attorneys had previously pointed out that successive governments have established a practice to annually provide a subvention to the organisation for it to carry out its programme.
The practice was initiated by then President David Granger in 2018 and every year it had been approved and paid since.
Hughes had pointed out that that fact creates a legitimate expectation by IDPADA-G to receive the payment and as such there has been a breach of this expectation by the Minis-try of Finance’s refusal to make the payment.
In the application as well, the organisation is asking for a declaration by the court that if the government wanted to change its legitimate expectation of the subvention then it should have given notice and invited and offered it an opportunity to be heard as to the reasons why the subvention was being stopped.
Chair of IDPADA-G’s Coordinating Council, Vincent Alexander, had said that it had hoped that the subvention would have continued at least up to 2024 when the decade of observances would come to an end.
IDPADA-G, according to its website, was set up to craft the Guyana plan for the International Decade for People of African Descent in keeping with the provisions of the UN resolution inclusive of mechanisms for implementing, superintending, and monitoring the plan as may be deemed necessary. IDPADA-G says that it is an assembly of African organisations and its general assembly is made up of one representative from each of the registered organizations. The organization consists of the General Assembly, a Coordinating Council, a Secretariat and Sub-committees.
Then President Granger had started the funding for IDPADA-G in 2018. The organisation’s objectives include expanding Afro-Guyanese’s share in the economy; increasing access to training and employment opportunities; restoring excellence in education, ensuring equity, justice, and the respect for human and civil rights; demanding reparations; and the preservation of Afro-Guyanese’ history and culture.
There has been a public spat between the government and IDPADA-G over several months with the government accusing the body of mismanaging its funds.
IDPADA-G in response said that the Ministry of Finance’s Central Internal Audit Unit had already conducted and reported on an investigation into the receipts and disbursement of funds by IDPADA-G for the period 2018 to 2021. Additionally, a copy of the report resulting from that audit was forwarded to the Minister, since his request sought to duplicate what had already been done by the Ministry of Finance.
