As the 2020 elections drew near, three new and small political parties, A New and United Guyana (ANUG), The New Movement (TNM) and Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), decided to enhance their chances of gaining representation in the National Assembly. Individually, each would have had to obtain approximately 5,000 votes to earn a seat. These parties felt that in the event that each did not reach that threshold, although some were confident that they would, they stood a better chance of gaining representation if they made use of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA).
Section 22 of ROPA provides that two or more lists of candidates may be joined for the distribution of seats but not for the purpose of voting. The three political parties entered into a written agreement and duly notified the Chief Election officer. Section 22 was in ROPA since 1968 but was never invoked. When the three parties engineered this innovative electoral scheme, it attracted much attention, and the word “joinder” became part of our elections’ lexicon. The three political parties got enough votes for only one seat, and they agreed to share the seat in proportion to their votes.
The LJP took the first turn. Its Leader, Lennox Shuman, represented that party for the assigned period and duly resigned at its end. ANUG, the party which gained the second highest number of votes was the next in line. However, it agreed with the TNM, which gained only approximately 500 votes and was entitled to only a three-month stint in the National Assembly, that the latter’s representative should take up the seat after LJP. If early elections were called, TNM would have lost the opportunity of sitting in the National Assembly. ANUG agreed to take the final turn and suffer the loss of time in the event of early elections. Dr. Asha Kissoon of the TNM was duly sworn in. Despite the expiration of her entitled period, she has steadfastly refused to resign in accordance with the several agreements that punctuated this “joinder” electoral venture. Her perpetration of this fraud on her erstwhile colleagues and the tarnishing of the electoral process by her deceit has denuded her parliamentary status of any legitimacy.
The Elections Commission and the Speaker have been engaged on the matter. The Elections Commission can only fill a vacancy. It cannot appoint a new member of the National Assembly by displacing a member who holds a seat – in other words if there is no vacancy. Only the Speaker can declare a seat to be vacant.
In December, 2008, Opposition Leader Mr. Robert Corbin invoked article 156 of the Constitution and section 2 of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 22 of 2007 in recalling Mr. James McAllister, then a PNCR/1G Member of Parliament. He wrote to the Speaker as follows: “In accordance with Article 156(3)(c) of the Constitution, I wish to notify you that after meaningful consultation with the Parties that make up the PNCR/1G List of Candidates, the said Parties have indicated to me that they have lost confidence in Mr. James McAllister as a Member of the National Assembly extracted from the said List. I hereby forward a formal Notice of Recall pursuant to Section 2(3)(c) of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 22 of 2007 that was sent to James McAllister. As Representative of the Peoples’ National Congress Reform-One Guyana I now request that you act in accordance with Article 156(4).”
The Speaker then declared the seat vacant on 3 December, 2008, one day after receiving Mr. Corbin’s letter, and the Clerk informed the Chief Election Officer on the said 3 December, 2008. Mr. McAllister was replaced as a member.
On 14 March, 2024. Mr. Gerald Forde, the Representative of the TNM List of Candidates, wrote to the Speaker as follows: “This serves to inform you pursuant to article 156(3)(c) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana that I, Gerald Forde, being Representative of the List from which Asha Kissoon was purportedly extracted that, after meaningful consultation with the parties which make up the List, the parties have lost confidence in Asha Kissoon and I have issued a Notice of Recall to Asha Kissoon, a copy of which is now forwarded to you herewith.”
There is no material difference between Mr. Corbin’s letter of 2 December, 2008, and Mr. Forde’s letter of 14 March, 2024. Mr. Forde has not received a response to his letter and Dr. Asha Kissoon still occupies her seat in the National Assembly without lawful justification which properly and morally belongs to the representative of ANUG.
Parliamentary skullduggery started as far back as the early 1960s when the PPP’s Mohamed Saffee ‘crossed the floor’ and joined the PNC. Since then, ‘crossing the floor’ in the National Assembly from the PPP to the PNC became a regular feature of our politics. Those who did so descended into political ignominy while they were alive. It stopped only in 1992. Dr Asha Kissoon did not ‘cross the floor’ but added a new dimension to Guyana’s long history of political infamy. With a shattered integrity, her respect and effectiveness in politics is over.