Caribbean Court sets June 18 “tentatively” for no-confidence decision

Last Updated on Monday, 10 June 2019, 20:53 by Writer

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has set a tentative date of next week Tuesday for a decision on whether last December’s no-confidence motion was validly passed by Guyana’s National Assembly, lawyers for the parties confirmed.

Attorney-at-Law, Sanjeev Datadin, who is representing Charrandass Persaud, and Attorney-at-Law Roysdale Forde, who is  representing Joseph Harmon, told Demerara Waves Online News that June 18, 2019 at 10 am is set for the decision date.

Demerara Waves Online News has also seen correspondence from a CCJ official to lawyers that that date and time have been “tentatively” set.

The CCJ up to late Monday did not dispatch an official media advisory.

The Trinidad-based regional court’s decisions will be about cases brought by private citizen, Compton Reid, Harmon and Attorney General Basil Williams challenging the validity of the no-confidence motion. In return, former government parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud, who voted for the motion, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and political commentator Christopher Ram have asked the court to find that the motion was validly by a vote of 33-32.

Reid, Williams and Harmon want the CCJ to uphold the Guyana Court of Appeal decision that an absolute majority of 34 votes was required. They also want the CCJ to find that Persaud had known he holds dual citizenship and ought not to have been a parliamentarian, as well as the Guyana Constitution prohibited Persaud from being disloyal to the list of candidates from which he was drawn under Guyana’s proportional representation electoral system.