Jagdeo to write President over Cabinet’s refusal to resign

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo says he will write a letter to President David Granger detailing his concerns about Cabinet’s refusal to resign.

Jagdeo at a press conference on Thursday said despite accepting that it is an interim Government, the Government continues to function in the same manner as they did before.

“Further in open defiance of the CCJ’s ruling, they continue to say that the Cabinet is not resigning when the Constitution says that and the CCJ orders said the Cabinet and the President must resign,” Jagdeo told reporters.

Article 106 (6) of the Constitution says that the President and Cabinet shall resign on the passage of a No-Confidence motion. Additionally, article 106 (7) states that, notwithstanding its defeat in the National Assembly, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election.

The Opposition Leader called on the President to issue a proclamation to dissolve Parliament and set a date for elections.

Jagdeo and the President are currently engaged in consultations to appoint a new Chair for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) but the Opposition Leader said he did raise his concerns at those meetings because he does not want to sully the talks as it is progressing smoothly.

The President has noted that when the Chair is appointed, that person will advise on the way forward as it relates to when GECOM will be in a position to hold elections.

But Jagdeo continues to argue against this notion.

“I see [Attorney General] Basil Williams continuing to speak as though the President can set the date at will and that he can wait on GECOM’s advice. That was what the argument was before the ruling, that the President will wait until GECOM says they’re ready, whenever they’re ready, three hundred years from now, and then he will set the elections date,” Jagdeo told the press.

The Opposition Leader believes the President is being ill-informed.

“I had reason to say to the President when we met that if this is the sort of legal advice he gets, then he is in trouble, in front of Basil Williams,” Jagdeo said.

Jagdeo said he is disappointed that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM has not taken a position on the matter.