PROMINENT Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes has joined the list of legal minds who have pointed to Guyana’s Constitution and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Act to show that the Court, legally, has no jurisdiction over the Guyana Elections matter.
Speaking with the National Communication Network (NCN) on Monday, Hughes commented on the application by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) for Special Leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision that the election of a President must be on the basis of valid votes. He pointed the public to Article 177 (4) of the Constitution, which states: “The Court of Appeal shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question as to the validity of an election of a President in so far as that question depends upon the qualification of any person for election or the interpretation of this Constitution; and any decision of that Court under this paragraph shall be final.”
He also highlighted Section (4) of the Caribbean Court of Justice Act which limits the appellate jurisdiction of the Court. With the case set to come before the CCJ on July 1, 2020, for which written submissions have been submitted on the issue of jurisdiction and oral submissions are expected, Hughes said that it is likely that the CCJ will zero in on the words, ‘exclusive’ and ‘final’ as stated plainly within Guyana’s Constitution.
“I want to be clear that this is not regular legislation; this is the Constitution, so, I believe that the CCJ will spend a lot of time on ‘exclusive’ and on ‘final’ because courts tend not to want to test us. Even in their expansive interpretations of various rights so that they expand human rights, they probably tend not to want to be perceived as encroaching where the clear expressed intent of the people expressed in the Constitution had a different view,” the Attorney stated.
The case was filed by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, and PPP/C Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali, and the court has agreed to accept written and oral submissions on the issue of jurisdiction, the application for special leave, and on the substantive matter simultaneously. It will, however, make a determination on the issue of its jurisdiction before ruling on any other matter.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_6-30-2020