After the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) concluded its hearing on consequential orders yesterday, former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney-at-Law representing the Leader of the Opposition, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, in an interview in front of the CCJ in Trinidad stated that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the Government are in a conspiracy to delay the elections. “What is clear and what has been made clear today is that GECOM and the Government are in a conspiracy to delay the elections. What is also abundantly clear is that the Government is morbidly afraid of going to the polls and that by itself tells an entire story.”
According to Nandlall, “What we also witnessed today was the misleading of the Court by the Attorney General, Basil Williams, who said that the President wrote to the Leader of the Opposition inviting him to a meeting and that the Leader of the Opposition did not respond, creating the impression that the Leader of the Opposition is guilty of some delay, when the letter said very clearly that the meeting was suppose to take place after the 24th June 2019, that is after the consequential orders would have been made and therefore that meeting was suppose to discuss the consequential orders.
“Another point that was made that it totally misleading is the conveying of the impression to the Court by the Attorney General, by Stanley Marcus and by Eamon Courtney that house to house registration is a sine qua non for elections in Guyana. That is an absolute lie and it is contrary to the statutory and legal reality of our electoral system. House-to-house registration is a system that has been replaced by a continuous registration system implemented since 2005.”
“What we also witnessed today was the misleading of the Court by the Attorney General, Basil Williams, who said that the President wrote to the Leader of the Opposition inviting him to a meeting and that the Leader of the Opposition did not respond, creating the impression that the Leader of the Opposition is guilty of some delay, when the letter said very clearly that the meeting was suppose to take place after the 24th June 2019, that is after the consequential orders would have been made and therefore that meeting was suppose to discuss the consequential orders.
Another point that was made that it totally misleading is the conveying of the impression to the Court by the Attorney General, by Stanley Marcus and by Eamon Courtney that house to house registration is a sine qua non for elections in Guyana. That is an absolute lie and it is contrary to the statutory and legal reality of our electoral system. House-to-house registration is a system that has been replaced by a continuous registration system implemented since 2005,” Nandlall argued.
Further, Nandlall explained that “Another significant misleading statement, which has been made to the Court, is that the system is not ready. GECOM system is very much ready. The PPP has on the Commission three Commissioners, who meet on a regular basis and they also have an appreciation of the readiness of the system. What is being told to the Court that they are not ready is a complete and utter lie, because, on the 27th December 2018, GECOM made a public statement, days after the No-Confidence Motion was passed, that they are going to be ready in three months. What we are hearing now is a dilatory delay tactic playing out.
“The other significant factor also that I must emphasise is that they have also misled the Court when they spoke about the billions of dollars already expended on a house-to-house registration exercise. The house-to-house registration process, which they are proposing, has not yet started and they cannot have expended the billions of dollars that they claim they have expended.”
Nandlall hammered the Attorney General and other lawyers for misleading statements in the Court. He stated that “In total, when you heard in the Court was a barrage of misleading statements intended to create a wrong impression of the reality in Guyana and the relation to the reality of the electoral system, all done with the objective of delaying the holding of elections. This is the behaviour of despots. This is the behaviour of political dictators. This is the behaviour of people who are not prepared to embrace democracy and the rule of law.”
However, “Fortunately, the Court said very clearly that all sides must make submissions by Monday coming (1st July 2019) and that they will make their definitive, conclusive and final ruling, including consequential orders, by the 12th July 2019. So, this masquerade and the charade will finally come to an end and it is sincerely hoped that the Court in making those orders will give effect to the framers of the Constitution, give effect to Articles 106 (6) and (7) and all the statutory provisions in relation to elections and how elections are going to be held in Guyana.”
Nandlall expressed hope that the CCJ will finally put this matter to rest in the coming weeks. He stated, “What this episode and saga has demonstrated to the world is the battle that Guyana has to go through against its current Government, simply to secure democracy and to protect the ballot of the people. That is the struggle and that is always the struggle when the PNC is in a Government. That is the history of Guyana and that is the political reality of Guyana.”
“Hopefully, the CCJ in its rulings on the 12th will crush that,” Nandlall posited.
