…in law
Basil Williams would have us believe he’s finally won a victory in the Courts against the PPP. Of course he’s blamed everyone, including the court bailiffs, for his string of stinging defeats; never mind that in every instance it was his legal arguments that were found wanting — wanting some logic and legal precedence, that is!!
But the CCJ’s decision that nixed the PPP’s strongest candidate from running for the presidency in 2020, he’s taking THAT as his own!!
And it’s not just a feather in his cap to salve his battered ego…he’s riding the victory to return as Chairman of the PNC, from which platform he expects to be anointed as the PNC’s presidential candidate. And with Jagdeo out of the way, he really fancies his chances to go all the way…even without his telephonic buddy Felix rigging him in!!
But if the truth be told, the CCJ’s decision in the Richardson case isn’t Williams’s victory…since it was NOT built on his, or his VERY expensive foreign legal brain trust’s arguments.
Fundamentally, what Justice Chang in the High Court had ruled – and was affirmed by our Appellate Court – was that because, according to Article 9, the PEOPLE of Guyana are sovereign, only THEY can alter certain FUNDAMENTAL defining aspects of our Constitution; including, for instance, that we are a “democratic” polity, as defined in Article 1.
While, in the instance of Richardson, the diminution of the people’s choice of Presidential candidate via the change wrought by Article 90 might not have been one of those fundamental defining aspects of our Constitution, Justice Chang ruled that if it is altered, by IMPLICATION, one of those aspects – which he described as the “basic structure” of the constitution – then the Legislative change, while procedurally OK on its face, was substantively unconstitutional!
Basil Williams and his high-priced team disagreed. In the words of the court that ruled in his favour, he was WRONG!! Your Eyewitness quotes the ruling extensively, not to be accused of bias:
“The State (via Williams) challenged the power of the court to conclude that Articles 1 and 9 had been amended by implication because the Court had a limited role and could not enquire into the propriety of the amending legislation nor place any limitation on the Parliamentary power to amend Article 90….We have accepted the case law to mean that provisions in a Constitution could be amended by implication even when the legislature did not so intend.”
Williams won the case because the CCJ took an overly expansive view as to what should be considered as “affecting” fundamental aspects of the constitution.
Our democracy had to be changed into a dictatorship to be considered “affected”!!
…on “working people”
While there still isn’t a new Board installed for GuySuCo, Clive Thomas was Chairman of the Board that executed what we know to be Granger’s decision to shut down four sugar estates – just to cripple the PPP’s base by firing 7000 sugar workers. Now, last we knew, Clive Thomas was still co-leader of the WORKING PEOPLE’S Alliance, no? Even if he’d changed from being the staunch Marxist who’d railed for most of his life against the “capitalist running dogs” exploiting the “working class”, surely he should’ve raised even a symbolic protest??
After all, this was the man who’d advocated breaking ALL links with the West because of the “structural nature of the exploitative relationships foundational to capitalism!! Whatever happened to the socialist concern for “working people”? Especially since his own CoI didn’t recommend closure!!
But then some say “working peoples” aren’t all the same. And while it appears Clive Thomas has always embraced this view – it’s only after the PPP got into office that he’s come out of the closet.
Race matters!
…on Amaila
It’s a shame Norway’s caving in to the PNC’s spiteful rejection of AFHEP just because the latter dubbed it “Jagdeo’s baby”.
If their own study showed it was the most feasible option for a “green” Guyana, Norway should stick to their guns.
