No respite for suspended Opposition MPs

Aug 05, 2022 News

– Court refuses to grant injunction

Kaieteur News – After listening to the initial submissions in the case filed for interim orders to put a hold on the suspension of eight opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), Justice Damon Younge on Thursday, refused the application for injunctive relief.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton with some suspended members after filing the court case.

A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change APNU+AFC MPs: Sherod Duncan, Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Vinceroy Jordan, Annette Ferguson, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Maureen A. Philadelphia, and Tabitha Halley were officially suspended from the National Assembly for a list of parliamentary infractions following the ruckus which was caused in the House on December 29, 2021, during the passage of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) law.

The eight opposition MPs were suspended after a majority vote of in support of a motion to suspend them tabled in the House on July 22 last. The motion came as a result of a decision made at the level of the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges.

Following deliberations of the committee over the December 29 ruckus, it was recommended that the Opposition MPs be suspended from attending several consecutive sittings of the House. As a result of the suspension, the MPs will lose their pay as well as access to parliament and any business of the House.

The suspended MPs had filed a case in the court just hours before the decision to suspend them was taken. In the case, they outlined that they were not given a right to a hearing by the bipartisan Privileges Committee. The report of the committee shows that they were invited to show cause why they should not be punished but the MPs denied having committed any of the acts that they have been accused of.

They instead asked for details of the offences. The Committee relied on live video recordings and testimonies by the media and staff of the Parliamentary Office. At the filing of the court matter, the MPs expressed hope that the Court would grant a injunction to put on hold their suspension from the House, allowing to attend parliament until the case is fully heard on its merits. However, when the matter was called at the High Court on Thursday morning Kaieteur News understands that Justice Young refused to grant the order for an injunction in the absence of essential information related to the case.

“I am not minded to grant any interim orders without having considered the Notices of Application that has been filed and, as indicated, not on the Court’s file,” the judge is quoted as saying.

Prior to the Judge’s decision, Attorney for the applicants, Selwyn Pieters lobbied heavily for the stay to be granted so that the MPs can continue attend parliament until the full hearing and determination of the substantive matter.

Pieters contended the case raises significant issues of constitutional law and policy, administrative law and matters of public importance – “particularly where, as here, quarter of the Opposition Bench has been suspended leaving over 60,000 Guyanese voters without their representatives in the National Assembly of this Court does not intervene.”

Further, the lawyer pointed to the affidavit of Sarabo-Halley filed on July 28, 2022 where she set out individual, collective and public interest consequences of the decision of the National Assembly. “Particularly that the the next scheduled sitting of the National Assembly is on the 8th day of August, 2022, at which it is expected that the Government will proceed to deliberate on Financial Paper No. I of 2022, which is in excess of $44 billion,” Pieters added.

He stressed that the suspension inhibits the democratic process by removing a duly-elected representative of the people. Further, the people should be entitled to a transparent and open process to explain why their representatives have been suspended, which is also denied by the failure to provide the allegations the Parliamentarians had to meet and to hear the other side in breach of the “Audi Alteram Parten” or “Listen to the other side” rule.

Despite the attorney’s plea, Justice Younge deferred hearing the matter until Monday August 10, 2022 when further arguments will be heard in relation to the matter. In the meantime, the APNU +AFC opposition coalition has vowed to boycott the next sitting of the National Assembly.

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