Legal

The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), James Patterson, has informed President David Granger that general elections should be possible in November 2019 after house-to-house registration, but the opposition People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) elections commissioners said such a process is not grounded in law or policy. “In consideration of all of the above, the fulfillment of the various conditions ...

The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) dodged questions about how much money was paid for a stage play without possibly going through a procurement process. Sources said as much as GYD$3.5 million was paid to ERC Commissioner Neaz Subhan, but he declined to comment on how much it cost the ERC for the play, “I AM US”, that he wrote in ...

Indictable criminal charges of conspiracy by three Elections Commissioners to breach Guyana’s Constitution were dismissed by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. The three Guyana Elections Commissioners, all government-appointed, are Charles Corbin, Vincent Alexander and Desmond Trotman. Attorney-at-law Sanjeev Datadin, who filed the private criminal charges on behalf of Civil Engineer Marcel Gaskin, said the High Court would be asked to compel ...

Prominent Senior Counsel and former politician, Miles Fitzpatrick died Tuesday night at his residence after a period of illness, his son Garry Fitzpatrick confirmed. He was 83 years old. No date has been set yet for his final rites, but his son said “we’re going to have a public memorial and the cremation will be private.” Asked how best will ...

Concerns are being raised about perceived bias involving a Guyana Government-hired lawyer in the appeal of a High Court decision on the no-confidence motion, on the grounds that he is a member of the body that hires and fires judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Guyanese Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin told Demerara Waves Online News that Grenadian Sir Francis ...

President David Granger and the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) on Saturday mourned the passing of Senior Counsel, Bernard De Santos. “The President “extends condolences at the death” of De Santos, the Ministry of the Presidency said. De Santos was 80 years. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 1991 and served as Guyana’s Attorney General from 1992 to 1997 under the ...

Attorney-at-law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram on Friday asked the High Court to block the award of government contracts worth more than GYD$15 million. Through his lawyers, including Anil Nandlall, Ram also wants the High Court to declare that all such contracts that were awarded since the no-confidence motion was passed on December 21, 2o18 were “unconstitutional, unlawful, null, void ...

President David Granger has invited Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo to meet with him next week Wednesday to possibly explore extending the deadline by which general elections should be held and also funding for the polls. Neither Jagdeo nor Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira could be reached to ascertain whether Jagdeo would back down from his so far known reluctance to ...

Guyana’s main opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is exploring options for legal action against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for allegedly contributing to delaying holding general elections. PPP Leader and General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo announced Thursday he was awaiting some legal opinions noting that “I’ve not explored it in great deal to see… its likelihood of success, whether you can ...

Guyana’s Solicitor General, Nigel Hawke has not resigned and is still very much at his desk, a well-placed source at the Attorney General’s Chambers said Thursday. The source vehemently denied that Hawke even submitted a resignation to the Ministry of Legal Affairs Permanent Secretary but conceded there were “loud discussions” about what transpired at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. ...