The Irfaan Ali administration is making a case that they are within their right to fire persons employed during the Coalition administration (A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change) and cancel business deals done during the same government. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is justifying what they are doing, because according to them the Coalition was in office illegally after the No-Confidence Vote (NCV) in December 2018. The argument is as porous as can be.
The NCV was challenged in court, all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which ruled in June 2019 the vote was validly passed. The Consequential Order issued by the same court in July 2019, pellucidly stated the government remains in office until a new election. It is worth reminding citizens the CCJ never said the Coalition Government cannot function. That order also referred to the Canadian model of how a government functions after a NCV. There is no local precedent for government functioning between a NCV and election, and President David Granger exercised his judgment on how the government will function.
If the Ali administration thinks the Granger administration should not have hired people or engaged in business deals because they were ‘illegally’ in office, then Guyanese must now require the same for the Janet Jagan administration. The 1997 Election which made Mrs. Jagan president was nullified in the Court in 2001. A nullified election means it was not valid and those who were in office were not legally elected. That same court (High Court) ordered a new election and the functioning of the government until it was held.
The PPP/C does not consider it illegal that President Donald Ramotar, who prorogued the Parliament to avoid a NCV, days before the 2015 election signed a secret deal giving away the Stabroek and Canje oil blocks. The latest news is that these blocks are expected to yield nine billion barrels of oil and counting as exploration continues. There are no significant financial returns for Guyana and there seems to be no interest to renegotiate the deal. Guyanese are left to hang their hands and hope for the drippings.
Prior to 2015, there was the 2011 Election. Days before that election, and the Parliament prorogued, President Bharrat Jagdeo gave away several broadcasting licenses, which are state assets, to the PPP and friends. In both 2011 and 2015 the government was in caretaker mode as the Parliament was already prorogued and the country in the election period. What entitled the Janet Jagan, Jagdeo and Ramotar governments to make decisions that the Coalition could not make? Nothing, other than the sanctimoniousness of superiority that whatever is done by them is well done.
The Ali administration’s reaction to the Granger administration is shrouded in inconsistencies and vindictiveness. What they are saying is that nothing done by the previous government is acceptable. This publication has seen a letter signed by Prime Minister Mark Phillips stating, “that the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) is authorised to rescind all leases done by the previous government.” This is vindictive and discriminatory at its core.
There is a similar situation as this playing out in the United States of America with President Donald Trump seeking to overturn everything done by President Barack Obama. He spearheaded a conspiracy theory of “otherness” that Obama was not born in America and therefore ineligible to be President. America knew that was a dog whistle for white supremacy, and it was Obama’s race not ability or vote that made him in the eyes of Trump and those of like minds, unworthy to be elected to that country’s highest office.
Among the first things Trump did after being sworn into office was to issues Executive Orders erasing some decisions made by Obama. He has continued this hate even to the detriment of U.S relations in the international community and the health of Americans. We are in troubling times. These are signs of autocracy and intolerance that breathes dictators. Guyanese must take note and resist.
