CCJ’s ‘Heads-up notice’ raises eyebrows; local lawyers, politicians allege bias

Several legal stakeholders in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) appeal matter of Bharrat Jagdeo and Irfaan Ali vs Eslyn David on Tuesday received an informal email from Ms Gizel Thomas-Roberts, Deputy Registry and Marshall of the CCJ that raises eyebrows among politicians here and lawyers involved in the case.

The informal note which was copied to only selected lawyers mainly from the opposition opens: “Dear Council, “HEADS UP”. It then goes on to state that tomorrow (Wednesday, June 24th) an order WILL BE issued from the bench that maintains the status quo and orders the holding of a CMC in the matter on Thursday, June 25th at 3pm.

Some members of the local legal fraternity have found this informal note of some future plan to be highly problematic and many have voiced questions like, if the bench was not ready to issue the stay today, how is it sure that it will have the legal grounds to issue the stay tomorrow?

One analyst stated that, “The very CCJ Act recognises that the CCJ’s jurisdiction to hear such appeals is circumscribed in some cases, including decisions which were, at the time of the promulgation of the CCJ Act, stated by some other law to be final (section 4 (3) of the CCJ Act). Section 4 (3) of the CCJ Act therefore puts the Court of Appeal decisions which predate the CCJ Act (promulgated in 2004), and which were stated by some law to be final, beyond the jurisdiction of the CCJ. In other words the CCJ would not have jurisdiction to hear matters which fall into this category.

A legal analysts said that given that Article 177 (4) of the Guyana Constitution (passed in 2000) says that any decision of the CoA regarding…the interpretation of the constitution concerning the election of a President shall be final, any decision given by the CoA on said matter before the CCJ Act was promulgated in 2004 is final, and the CCJ would not have jurisdiction to hear appeals in those cases.”

Many Guyanese citizens worry that the CCJ’s actions seem biased, and designed to impede GECOM’s work, without themselves being sure of whether they even have jurisdiction to hear the matter in question.

The laws of Guyana clearly state that the Court of Appeals has the final word in these matters. Guyanese leaders must be wary of adhering to precedent which will inevitably and negatively impact future governments and by extension the citizens of Guyana.