By Gary Best, Fmr. Army Chief, Rear Admiral (rtd)
My response to a recent PPP, ANUG and Liberty and Justice Party Town Hall Meeting:
A multi Party Political Panel comprising Political commentator, Chris Ram; Executive member of Liberty and Justice Party, Sean Dublin; PPP-Civic parliamentarian, Juan Edghill; PPP Executive member, Gail Teixeira and ANUG Executive member, Timothy Jonas have gotten it completely wrong in assessing what happens after March 21. To put it constitutionally, The President and the Government shall remain in office until a new President is sworn in. This is according to Article 106(7) of the Guyana Constitution and the Honourable Chief Justice’s decision at paragraph 110(d) of her judgment.
To Mr Jonas’ question about what happens after the ninety days period because there is nothing in expressed terms…The answer is clearly contained in the said Article 106(7) which triggers an extension of the 90 days by a period agreed to by 2/3 of the members of the National Assembly. This places a duty on the Opposition Leader and his MPs to vote for an extension or be held responsible for the non conduct of elections.
The inelegant words of “usurper and “squatter” used by Mr Ram with respect to the President and Presidency, after the expiration of 90 days, are very unfortunate and find no favour with the mildest of constitutional interpretation. As expressed above, Article 106(7) and the Honourable CJ’s judgment saves the President and Government until another President is sworn in, irrespective of the 90 days. Consequently, and contrary to the views of Mr Ramon Gaskin, there will be no vacancy of the Presidency and there will be no role for the military after the 90 days, since Article 106(7) mandates the President and Government to remain in office until another President is sworn in. Further, Ms Texeira’s concern about “grey areas”, and whether there can be any “parliamentary sitting” after 90 days. The answer is yes, there can be a sitting of Parliament because Article 106(7) provides for an extension of the 90 day period which can only be done by the Parliament itself. Consequently, all government actions after the 90 day period are legal, valid and constitutional.
Finally, according to Article 50 of the Guyana Constitution, the supreme organs of democratic power shall be: the Parliament; the President and the Cabinet, in that order. That’s why the framers of the Constitution stated in Article 106(7) that the President and Government remain in office even if defeated and until elections are held and another President is sworn in. The President, and by extension, the Government, is a separate organ of democratic power that lies above the Cabinet.
