AG queries haste to complete Presidential third term appeal
Jan 14, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....l-third-term-appeal/
Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, is questioning the haste by Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh, to complete the hearing of the appeal on whether former President Bharrat Jagdeo can run for a third term.
Basil Williams, Attorney General and Minster of Legal Affairs
The matter came up yesterday in the Court of Appeal, where Justice Singh announced that he will hand down a ruling in the matter on February 15, although there has been no arguments or submissions by the parties involved. Instead, the parties have been given one week from yesterday’s date to present written submission.
The AG believes that Justice Singh wants to hand down a ruling in the matter before he demits office on February 23, having reached the age for retirement.
The APNU-AFC Government had expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling by former Chief Justice Ian Chang, that an elected President can run for more than two terms.
The ruling, based on a Constitutional challenge, was filed in February 2015. The applicant argued that Act 17 of 2001, which was passed by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly, unconstitutionally curtails and restricts his sovereign and democratic rights and freedom as a qualified elector to elect former President Bharrat Jagdeo as the Executive President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
The petitioner had contended that the limit was unconstitutional and illegal.
He also wanted the court to determine whether the amendment with a referendum should not have been held, instead of the two-thirds majority in the National Assembly having the powers to decide to limit the number of terms. After several months in the court, the former Chief Justice ruled in favour of the petitioner’s argument, setting the stage for Jagdeo to have a third term as President.
In his written ruling, Chang, among other things, said that the purported alteration of Article 90 by the Act No. 17 of 2001, in substance and effect, undoubtedly diminishes the democratic rights of the electorate in electing a person of their own choice as President.
Bharrat Jagdeo, Former President and Leader of the Opposition
When the CJ initially handed down his decision, some legal analysts opined that he erred in his interpretation of the law and noted that the decision should be appealed. Attorney General Williams therefore moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision. In his filed appeal on behalf of the government, Williams stated that he is “dissatisfied with the whole of the decision” handed down by Chang.
The Chief Justice’s (CJ) decision came after a constitutional challenge was taken by Georgetown resident Cedric Richardson. He sought the court’s interpretation of the provisions in the Constitution regarding the two-term limit for Guyana’s presidency.
In his Appeal, Williams posited that Chang “erred and misdirected himself in the law” in ruling that the National Assembly which passed Act No. 17 of 2001 is unconstitutional and of no effect as it failed to comply with Article164 (2)(a) of the Constitution.
The Attorney General believes that Chang also erred in ruling that the Act in question, in substance and effect, diminishes the democratic right of the electorate in electing a person of their own choice as President.
Williams also posited that Chang erred in law in not satisfying himself that the Court has jurisdiction to grant the reliefs sought.
With these grounds and two others, Williams asked that Chang’s ruling be “wholly set aside.”
In 2000, the Guyana Constitution Reform Commission recommended a maximum of two terms in office for a President. The laws of Guyana were changed in 2001, and assented by former President Bharrat Jagdeo himself, making it clear that, “A person elected as President after the year 2000 is eligible for re-election only once.”
However, while Jagdeo has said that he has no intention holding any jobs in Guyana including that of Head of State, he was recently named Opposition Leader and head of the Peoples’ Progressive Party /Civic, (PPP/C).