The National Assembly meets tomorrow for its first sitting in almost 100 days and before the business of the Assembly gets underway, the Opposition Leader Joe Harmon intends to ask the Speaker to make his position clear on a recent ruling by Chief Justice Roxanne George relating to PPP Parliamentary Secretaries Sarah Brown and Vikash Ramkissoon.
In her decision over a month ago, the Chief Justice ruled that the appointment of Brown and Ramkissoon as Parliamentary Secretaries and non-elected Members of the National Assembly was illegal and therefore the two are to be removed from the positions and the National Assembly.
But Attorney General Anil Nandlall recently asked the Court of Appeal for a stay of the Chief Justice’s ruling. That stay has not yet been granted.
The speaker has not announced any move to remove the two Parliamentary Secretaries in keeping with the Court action.
“I am writing to you once again to indicate that to date I have received no correspondence or seen any public announcement that the ruling of Chief Justice Roxanne George with respect to Mr. Vickash Ramkisson and Sarah Browne has been obeyed. May I remind you, that her ruling was that these two persons were illegally appointed and are not eligible to serve as Members of Parliament in the National Assembly. For the third time a certified copy of her ruling is brought to your attention,” Harmon wrote in his latest letter to the Speaker.
The Opposition Leader said it is of grave concern that the speaker has not yet carried out the orders of the Chief Justice.
Harmon said failure to act in accordance with the ruling of the Court would also be afoul of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly and the Constitution of Guyana.
“If in fact you have not obeyed the ruling, I call on you to remedy the situation and to make public the action you have taken especially before the sitting of Parliament scheduled for tomorrow June 10th, 2021,” the Opposition leader said.
Speaker Manzoor Nadir has not offered any comment on the issue.
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