How Guyana moves forward following the Caribbean Court of Justice ruling last month is now positioned on the shoulders of Guyana’s President David Granger as its Head of State and Executive President. He must rise up to the challenge of leadership, display statesmanship, and defend the nation’s Constitution.
Following the CCJ’s landmark rulings, now more than ever there is need for Granger’s balanced response. On June 18, the CCJ declared the appointment of the GECOM Chairman unconstitutional, and upheld the validity of the December 21, 2018 Motion of No Confidence against Granger’s APNU+AFC government.
Granger’s focus must be on elections ahead now that his administration has been declared a caretaker one by the CCJ. His fair and objective response in moving to an election goal is now a necessity: each decision and action from the office he holds must reflect the good for all of Guyana, and not for the fulfilment of narrow and partisan needs. Also, each act must evidence his credibility and commitment to the best interest of the nation as its leader, and defender of Guyana’s Constitution.
One wonders, then, at some of the actions taken by the APNU+AFC since the CCJ’s ruling. The upholding of the December 21, 2018 Motion of No Confidence is more than ample evidence that this administration has been occupying office since March 21 without a national mandate. Its legitimacy is a simultaneously tenuous and pragmatic one, since the nation needs to have some form of government in place.
One wonders, then, at last month’s revelation the APNU+AFC administration is preparing a 2020 budget, signalling that this caretaker government is expending resources in day-to-day normality despite its tenuousness.
Moving forward, the pressing priority before the APNU+AFC as a lighter version of government, as enshrined in Guyana’s Constitution, should be to focus its resources and energies in preparing for general elections. This drive should have started after December 21, and more so, in earnest after the CCJ’s judicial affirmation of the government’s collapse. To carry on with day-to-day governing, therefore, could be interpreted as disregard for the unequivocal, judicial tenor of the respectable CCJ’s voice, and for the Constitution.
Also, one wonders at the fluidity that continues to beset the role of GECOM’s chairmanship. The CCJ’s intervention righted the unilateral, and thus unconstitutional appointment of Justice James Patterson as GECOM Chairman with the overturning of Granger’s 2017 decision.
Granger’s controversial decision in appointing Justice Patterson was upheld by both High Court and the Guyana Court of Appeal, despite his abrupt termination of dialogue, and unreasonably discarding three separate lists with a total of 18 names that were forwarded by the Opposition Leader. Finally, late last month, after the CCJ’s pronouncement, Justice Patterson resigned his questionable appointment.
It cannot be overstated that in overturning Granger’s unilateral appointment, the CCJ reaffirmed Guyana’s Constitution as the foundation upon which the rule of law rests. Moving forward, one of Granger’s tasks is to now decide on a new Chairman. Yet, despite the Constitution’s foundational indicators, this tenuous administration is now remarkably suggesting Granger can nominate some of the persons who would eventually be on the list of six to be submitted by the Opposition Leader.
Guyana’s Constitution is clear on the appointment of GECOM’s Chairman; similarly, its directions on a No Confidence Vote remain unambiguous. One is left to wonder at more than the APNU+AFC administration’s facility for arithmetic, where 33 was ignored as a majority in a parliament of 65 members. Also, despite its clear, constitutional settings, the way forward in appointing a GECOM head remains immobilised by avoidable obstacles and delay tactics.
One must then conclude this caretaker government wants to hold on to power for as long as possible.
The onus is on Granger’s shoulders. His way forward must be towards objectivity, not partisanship, and with leadership, statesmanship, and recognition of the foundational role of Guyana’s Constitution.