President of the New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Mr. Rickford Burke, on Tuesday blasted Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley, for making comments which CGID said “demonstrated contempt for the Guyana Court of Appeal and the judicial process in Guyana.”
The stinging rebuke of the Trinidadian Prime Minister was in response to his criticism of the Court’s ruling on Sunday, April 5, 2020 that a CARICOM initiative to recount votes cast in Guyana’s March 2, 2020 elections was a violation of the Guyana constitution. The ruling stemmed from litigation by a private citizen, Ms. Ulita Moore, who last week moved to the court to block the recount on the grounds that it was unlawful.
Unofficial results announced by Returning Officers of Guyana’s ten Regions show a win for the ruling APNU+AFC coalition, headed by President David Granger, by 8,000 votes. However, the opposition PPP, led by opposition leader and former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, is contending that it won the elections and have demanded a recount of ballots from Region 4, which has over 285,000 voters. Region 4 is the most populous Region in the country and is the bastion of the ruling coalition’s support base.
Guyanese Supreme Court Justice Franklin Holder, who initially heard Moore’s case, on March 17, 2020, slapped the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) with several injunctions which halted the CARICOM recount. Justice Holder also dismissed a challenge by Mr. Jagdeo to his jurisdiction to hear Moore’s case. Jagdeo appealed Justice Holder’s decision to the Full Court of the Guyana Supreme, which is an intermediary, appellate court. Last week, the Full Court, presided over by Chief Justice Roxanne George and Justice Nareshwar Harnanan, tossed out Justice Holder’s decision on grounds that his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Moore, however, appealed to the Guyana Court of Appeal. On Sunday a three judge panel, presided over by acting President of the Court, Justice Dawn Gregory, in a 2 to 1 decision, overturned the judgment of the Full Court. The panel, which included Justices Rishi Persaud and Brassington Reynolds, ruled that Justice Holder does have jurisdiction to hear Moore’s case. The Court also ruled that the CARICOM recount initiative breached the Guyana constitution. Justice Gregory also chided the Full Court for hearing Jgadeo’s appeal. She said the Full Court has no jurisdiction to hear constitutional matters.
Responding to the court ruling at a press conference in Port of Spain yesterday, Rowley said “I find that ruling quite disturbing because the ruling was that the actions of CARICOM would be deemed to be illegal, that finding of a court must be of concern to every member of CARICOM because it would be predicated on an understanding that CARICOM had done something that a court has found to be illegal… “The aide-memoire was signed between … Mr. David Granger and Bharrat Jagdeo and of course the third signature to that document was the secretary-general of CARICOM and I think that was some opportunity for misrepresentation and that opportunity was seized upon.” Rowley further posited that “In the document, in the original paragraphs, its speaks loosely to CARICOM being invited by these two leaders … it speaks loosely about supervising the fair conduct in counting their votes… …The high-level team would supervise the recount under the auspices of GECOM and would not engage themselves in the actual counting of ballots.” The Prime Minister then remarked that he had a problem with the court deeming CARICOM’s action as illegal.”
Burke, however, repudiated Rowley comments as “misguided.” He said the Prime Minister should have “seized himself of the facts of the CARICOM initiative, the relevant laws of Guyana and the nature of the Court ruling, before he rushed out to make uninformed comments about the ruling.” Burke contended that “Mr. Rowley should focus on the affairs of Trinidad & Tobago and his upcoming elections and stop meddling in Guyana’s internal politics.”
The CGID President said that Article 162 (1) (a), of the Guyana constitution mandates that only “the Elections Commission shall exercise general direction and supervision over the administrative conduct of all elections,” and that Article 226 (1) and (7), state that “In the exercise of its functions, the Elections Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.” Burke said before the court action was filed, GECOM’s Legal Adviser and the Chief Parliamentary Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers both admonished GECOM in writing that the CARICOM initiative was illegal, but the the Commission nevertheless injudiciously elected to proceed to appease Mr. Jagdeo.
The CGID head added that a March 15, 2020 statement by CARICOM Chairman and Barbadian Prime Minister, Ms. Mia Mottley, stated that “President Granger made a request for the Caribbean Community to field an independent, high-level team to supervise the re-counting of the ballots…” Burke also cited a March 16, 2020, statement by GECOM which stated that “The Guyana Elections Commission has completed all the preparatory arrangements for the commencement of the national recount exercise as agreed to by H.E. President David Granger and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo with Caricom. However, while the Commission has considered the request in principle and has approved, a signed agreement between the Leaders and Caricom is essential in order for the process to be operationalized.” Burke also cited a letter to Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret) Claudette Singh, from CARICOM Secretary General Mr. Irwin LaRocque, directing her to the aide memoire, which was signed by President David Granger, opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo and Mr. LaRocque.
“Clearly these documents, as well as the statements by the CARICOM Chairman and GECOM establish, incontrovertibly, that GECOM unlawfully subjected itself to the direction of the President, opposition leader and CARICOM. They also establish that GECOM handed over the supervision of the counting of ballots to CARICOM. These are egregious breaches of the laws of Guyana. The Court of Appeal therefore decided the matter correctly. The President and opposition are not above the law,” Burke asserted.
He insisted that if Prime Minister Rowley had taken the time to ascertain these facts and circumstances, he would not have engaged in injudicious and gratuitous attacks on the court. “This is unacceptable from a Head of Government,” Burke said. He warned that “Mr. Rowley should pay attention to the fact that the opposition PPP is paying an American firm $34 million to allegedly lobby Washington and spread disinformation internationally, while allegedly engaging in electoral malpractice. Based on intelligence, Mr. Rowley himself might just be the next victim of this type of fraud scheme.”