Presidential Hopeful Irfaan Ali and Gail Teixeria were announced as speakers for a dinner held at IMO Toronto on February 01, 2019. Unfortunately, Irfaan could not attend but presented a message to Guyanese Canadians via Video Conference.
Disclosure: I am not a reporter nor am I a member of any political party. I do like the PPP party and have supported the cause for democracy in Guyana by attending peaceful protests in Ottawa for the restoration of democracy in Guyana some thirty years ago. Those peaceful protests were organized by the ACG Canada and attended by the late Sat Shaw, Janet Jagan and others. I have beautiful pictures of those protests and can provide them if anyone is interested.
The dinner was slated for 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM and speeches were to follow later. I actually arrived at 8:00 PM due to delay of traffic on Hwy 400 that took me over an hour to arrive. Presidential hopeful Ali was concluding his address at the time that I arrived and seated. There were approximately 300 attentive Guyanese in attendance.
A Vote of no confidence
Gail's presentation was to update Guyanese Canadians on the situation in Guyana as it relates to the No Confidence Motion and the refusal of the PNC to announce elections. She informed the audience about Charandass's vote in support of the motion of no confidence and that his vote was not a vote in favour of the PPP. She said that Charandass stated that the plight and treatment of sugar workers were among the reasons why he supported the motion.
According to her, Nagamotoo made a statement in recognition of the vote of no confidence and that the motion was passed and election would have to be held in accordance with the constitution. Granger also acknowledged the vote of NC and that elections would be held in accordance with the constitution.
PPP was relieved that there was no violence because they were briefed that there was a possibility of people storming parliament in order to prevent the vote from occurring. According to Gail, the APNU government had announced that they would be mobilizing 8,000 supporters as a show of support but a crowd of only 80 showed up !
PNC Hypocrisy !
According to Gail, after the 2011 election in which the AFC PNC had been allocated 33 and the PPP government secured 32 seats, the AFC PNC had no problem with their 33 seats majority and used it to defeat legislations and even reduce budgets by $ 90 Billion dollars !
After the fall of the APNU government, they pressured the Speaker to review and overturn the motion which was earlier successfully passed in parliament. On January 03, 2019 the speaker refused to reverse his decision the speaker advised the AFC PNC to approach the court so that the court can advise parliament on they way forward. The legislature refused to change the results of the NC vote twice !
AFC PNC moves to the courts and lost
They then proceeded to the courts with the following arguments:
1. That Charrandas vote was invalid as a result of his Dual Citizenship.
2. That 34 is an absolute Majority that 33 is not greater than 32 !
3. They requested a stay on the 90 days constitutional requirement of March 19.
On January 31, 2019 The Chief Justice of Guyana ruled that even though dual citizenship is not allowed as MP's, the courts CANNOT invalidate a decision of parliament. I other words, Charandass vote was protected and cannot be invalidated due to the supremacy of the constitution.
The judge further ruled that the government should resign as required by the constitution while it continues to cary out the functions until elections are held.
The judge also ruled on AFC PNC bizarre calculation that 32 is greater than 33. She ruled that 33 is greater than 32 !
PNC is stalling in order to install a dictatorship administration
The government announced that it would move to the appeal courts and eventually to the Caribbean Courts of Justice in an effort to stall and remain illegally in office. Gail described the stalling as a massive filibuster to derail a democratic process. Any move to the CCJ can result in another three months of illegal occupation of office.
GECOM is also now stalling
According to Gail, despite the Chief election officer meeting with the technical staff on December 22 and December 23 to look at the capabilities and timelines of Gecom to hold elections within the 90 days as stipulated by the constitution, the 85 years old became ill and that it was Granger who violated the constitution and appointed his own chairman despite 18 healthy candidates presented to him !
Even though 34 days has passed, GECOM has not paid attention to holding elections ! The government members on GECOM are demanding that a house to house list be generated thus creating another six to eight months of potential delays.
The government is holding Guyanese hostage in delaying the holding of elections.
Why are the stalling ? According to Gail, the PNC knows that why will be kicked out of office based on the PPP working with the grassroots, in roads in the PNC strongholds because the PPP has been working in the PNC communities and villages more than than APNU AFC ministers are currently doing ! As such, the PNC does not want to give up power in fear of losing the election.
Notice to international Financial Institutions
The PPP has since informed international financial institutions and friendly countries not to engage in new loans and agreements with an illegal administration as of March 19. The PPP will review any such illegal agreements. According to the PPP, any agreement signed with this illegal government will be considered unconstitutional and unlawful after March 19.
What Next ?
I will report on Part Two tomorrow.
Yuji22
