Two Barbadian Queen’s Counsel are among a team of lawyers appearing before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Monday in a case involving the Guyana presidential system.
Ralph Thorne and Hal Gollop, along with Guyana’s Attorney General Basil Williams and Solicitor General Kim Kyte, are representing the Guyana government, which is appealing against the ruling of the Guyana Court of Appeal that to limit the holder of the office of president to two terms, was unconstitutional.
The matter arose after the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) filed a summons before the Guyana High Court in 2014, seeking a declaration that the law which they amended in 2000 while in government, limiting the holder of the office of the president to two terms was unconstitutional.
In July, 2015, the High Court ruled that the amendment was unconstitutional and invalid. The attorney general and the speaker of the National Assembly appealed against the ruling of the Guyana High Court.
In February, 2017, the Guyana Court of Appeal, by majority verdict, ruled that the amendment was unconstitutional. However in a dissenting judgment, the third member of the Guyana Court of Appeal ruled that the law was constitutional and valid.
The attorney general and the speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) have now appealed to the CCJ.
The PPP is being represented by Douglas Mendes, SC; Devesh Maharaj & Associates; and Kandace Bharath.
The Court of Appeal had ruled that the amendment breached fundamental democratic principles that are enshrined in the Constitution and that these principles could only have been changed by a national referendum.
The appellants were contending that the law was validly passed by the National Assembly, which had the power to pass laws, and that the Court of Appeal had erred in its reasoning that the Constitution could only have been amended in this manner by a national referendum. (MB)
