President Granger is violating the constitution
In any country, you are going to find parts of the constitution that gives antagonists opposing each other, grey areas that will ensure adamant embrace of fixed positions.
In my Saturday column, I predicted the APNU+AFC will reject a diminution of power based on the CCJ’s pronouncement of “caretaker” administration.
Out of the maddening back and forth taking place, there is semantic pellucidness, legal simplicity, and grammatical clarity in relation to the constitution. The CCJ judges have made their clarification explicit. The constitution stipulates that the president of Guyana must choose a name for GECOM chair from a list of nominations submitted by the opposition.
The president can be troublesome or mischievous or even conniving and quarrel endlessly about the names but there is no space in the constitution for him to submit a cluster of selectees on his own. It is a nonsensical violation of the constitution and the people of the world must denounce him for it.
President Granger does not want an independent chairman encapsulated in the Carter formula that has worked since 1992. I am not a fan of the PPP, will not vote for the PPP but the blazing fact which is part of our history is that successive PPP presidents have accepted the Carter formula and approved the names suggested by the PNC Opposition Leader since 1992 when the PPP formed the government.
I repeat what I told Stan Gouveia on Hits and Jams Radio that names suggested by the PNC opposition under the Carter formula had some connection to the opposition and yet different PPP presidents accepted them. Joe Singh worked with the PNC state all his life and achieved his iconic status under successive PNC governments. Steve Surajballi was very close to the WPA and TUF personnel.
The fact that it is incontrovertible is that some names suggested by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, have no known connection to the PPP in the past and in the present. Joe Singh is one of them so is Lawrence Latchmansingh.
What has worked smoothly since 1992 has been rejected by the APNU+AFC and it is disturbing.
I am not going to leave readers guessing as to why this is happening. My opinion is that David Granger and those in the PNC and AFC are afraid of losing the upcoming national election and they want a logistical and strategic advantage and they feel they could get it through the GECOM avenue.
Two graphic facts stand out that are dangerous for the future of this country and the world must intervene.
One is Granger’s insistence of his action of submitting a list of his own. Then Khemraj Ramjattan gave it away. He said last week if Jagdeo’s submissions are non-starters Granger can chose his own person. This is unconstitutional. Granger cannot make a unilateral appointment. But this is the direction he and his colleagues are going into.
It simply boggles the mind why there isn’t a deluge of criticism from more Guyanese and from the region and beyond about this violation of Granger. For all the criticism over the past fifteen years we have made of presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar, how can those who want a future for this country not see the deviousness in the president’s demand that a GECOM chairman come also from a list of his own choosing?
Why are the people of Guyana silent on this egregiousness? We cannot allow this flagrant violation of legality to go without speaking out. While the controversy rages on about what it meant by the Cabinet must resign and other related issues, there should be no confusion about the route to the GECOM chair. I now come to the emphasis of my opinion given above.
I do not believe Granger in the coming days will identify a GECOM chairman within the Carter framework. I think we are heading for another unilateral appointment which will find functionalism in the GECOM Secretariat and that chairperson will do what the APNU+AFC wants – house to house registration which will conclude perhaps by year end or early 2020, then there will be an announcement of election which comes close to the end of the five-year mandate of the APNU+AFC.