Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, insisting that he is not criticising the judicial system in Guyana, has openly complained of the slow pace of the trial of several former government ministers and officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) following the controversial 2020 regional and general election.
“Many of you continue to ask about the election fraud cases and as I receive information, I have been disseminating that information to you and I want to continue,” Nandlall said on his weekly “Issue in the News” Facebook broadcast on Tuesday night.
The senior counsel told viewers that early in the month of March, “the learned magistrate, who has conducted of most of these cases upheld an objection raised by defence counsel that certain provisions of the Representation of the People’s Act, which prohibits” GECOM from making public decisions and certain discussions held in the Commission.
Nandlall said that the defence had argued that those provisions in the Act were unconstitutional in that it interfered with the rights of the defendants to access information that they believed necessary to defend themselves.
He said the defence had also argued that “those provisions collide with the constitutional right to a fair trial”.
He said the Magistrate Lerone Daly ruled “that the issues deserved to be addressed by the High Court and the learned magistrate indicated that she will refer the questions to the High Court, exercising a particular provision of the Guyana Constitution that allows for such questions to be referred to the High Court”.
He said the legislation in question essentially provides “that once a constitutional issue is raised in a court lower than the High Court, then that court has the right to refer that question to the High Court for resolution.
“The magistrate said that she will do so. Nearly a month has elapsed and as far as I am aware, and I made enquirers, as far as I am aware, the learned magistrate has not yet referred any such question to the High Court as promised so the delay continues.”
Nandlall, who is also the Minister of Legal Affairs, said he expressed the view “that this objection could have been taken three years ago. These charges are pending three years now in the magistrate’s court”.
He said after much public commentary a date was fixed for trial “and only then when a date was fixed for trial then this objection was belatedly made.
“The objection could have been made at the beginning three years ago and …the issue would have been ventilated a long time now clearing the way for the trial to take place”.
Former government minister, Volda Lawrence; former GECOM Returning Officer for District Four, Clairmont Mingo; former GECOM Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; a former Scrutineer, Carol Smith Joseph and former GECOM Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield are among those accused of fraud in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Other GECOM staff facing charges are Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.
The prosecution alleges that defendants inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the then A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition a majority win at the polls.
Nandlall said that the magistrate entertained the defence counsel application “at the 11th hour” and that she is yet “to send the question to the High Court as the magistrate ruled that she would.
“When I say anything I am being accused of criticising the judiciary, of criticising the magistracy or interference. I am just giving you the information because you are requesting it and you are entitled to an update,” he told his viewers.
“I believe and I reiterate that this case is unduly delayed and every opportunity that presents itself for the case to be delayed that opportunity is acted upon. And that is fair commentary on the state of affairs.
“These are matters of national importance,” he said, adding that he was also responding to the many written questions, comments and statements he had been receiving on the cases.
“I am giving you the update and every time I do I have to explain to you that government doesn’t control the judiciary.
Many of you criticise me and you criticise the government for not bringing those cases up to trial…and I am to report to you that we cannot interfere with the judiciary.
“It is an independent arm. We can be critical, but we have to be respectful. We can’t ascribe any ulterior motive, we can’t ascribe any sinister motive to the magistrate or to the judge and it is not my intention to do that here.
“But I also have a duty to you to ensure that I update you on the progress of these matters and I know how anxious you are, as you are entitled to be, to ensure to have these matters ventilated,” Nandlall said in his broadcast.
