By this time, the year of the half person would have passed. It took three courts to finally resolve this jurisprudential conundrum. The argument advanced to overturn the no confidence vote of 33/32 against the Government on 21 December, 2018, was that while mathematically, half of 65 members of the National Assembly is 32½, the existence of such a number of persons is an impossibility. So is adding a half person to 32½ to make 33. To arrive at the half of 65 persons, 32½ persons have to be rounded up to 33 persons and 1 whole person added. Hence, the majority of 65 is 34 and not 33. Justice Wit of the CCJ resolved the conundrum with a compelling argument – you know it when you see it, 33 is the majority of 65.
Continue reading “LEAVING BEHIND – THE YEAR OF THE HALF PERSON”VICTORY AT THE WORLD COURT
The International Commission of Jurists (World Court) ruled on Friday last that it has jurisdiction to entertain Guyana’s application with regard to the dispute concerning “the legal validity and binding effect of the award regarding the boundary between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, of 3 October 1899.” This great preliminary success on the issue of jurisdiction was achieved after a monumental degree of work over a long period of time by a large number of Foreign Ministry officials, consultants, experts, advisers and lawyers. Since 1966 many have labored on this matter.
Continue reading “VICTORY AT THE WORLD COURT”WILL THE REAL RAPHAEL TROTMAN STAND UP?
The letter published by Mr. Raphael Trotman in yesterday’s newspapers is worth reading. If it does not shock you to your vitals, you are not living in Guyana or you have never heard of Mr. Trotman. Mr. Trotman has been in the public eye for decades and, since the formation of the AFC in 2005, has presented himself as one half of the equation, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan being the other half, to bring about ethnic healing in Guyana’s politics.
Continue reading “WILL THE REAL RAPHAEL TROTMAN STAND UP?”URGENT REFORMS
Yesterday’s online edition of SN contained four separate articles about oil, the most important of which were reports of speeches by the Canadian High Commissioner and the United States Ambassador. In her farewell address, Ms. Lilian Chaterjee said that Guyana lacked the labour force needed for the ‘explosive’ oil-linked growth that is coming. The US Ambassador, Ms. Sarah-Ann Lynch, speaking at the Oil and Gas Summit, said that Guyana has to move quickly to show the world and Guyanese that it is ready for the immense transition underway. The words conveyed urgency.
Continue reading “URGENT REFORMS”CURBING ELECTORAL MALPRACTICE
The PPP/C’s accepted defeat by 5,000 votes in 2015 and promptly departed from office, without a recount of votes in some challenged areas. It was generally believed that with a smooth political transition, the era of debilitating election controversies had come to an end and future results would be accepted, even if challenged in court, as is the usual practice. The events of March to August this year has proven that both rigged and disputed elections are here to stay and that if the APNU+AFC ever gets into office again, it will remain there forever, or for decades, as from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, by both hook and crook.
Continue reading “CURBING ELECTORAL MALPRACTICE”