Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland on Thursday ruled that the controversy over the validity of the recently passed no-confidence motion should be settled by the court.
During the sitting, that was boycotted by members of the main opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Scotland decided not to consider the resolution of the no-confidence motion, instead saying that the Assembly will be guided by the Court’s ruling,
In response to a request from the Government seeking a reversal of the resolution of the no-confidence motion, Scotland said he received advice, both solicited and unsolicited, from various jurisdictions on the issue.
He said while he has the power to reverse the no-confidence resolution, he believes that issues related to its passage might be addressed better outside the Assembly, referring to the Courts.
His decision is likely to see both the Government and the Opposition approaching the Courts for a final ruling on whether the no-confidence motion was properly passed.
The Government’s position is that the motion was not properly passed since it believes a majority of 34 seats were needed for a majority passage, however, the opposition contends that 33 votes represented the majority.
Both sides have said they intend to move to the Court.
But the opposition had already indicated that it wants the Courts to force the Government to accept the vote and call elections within three months.
The Government has already hired the services of Senior Counsel Rex McKay and Stephen Fraser along with a number of other high powered Attorneys to address the issue.
Last month, Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo successfully tabled the motion of no confidence in the government after accusing it of being “incompetent and corrupt”.
The motion received the backing of government back bencher Charandass Persaud and securing the 33 votes required to pass the motion in the 65-seat National Assembly after several hours of debate.
The coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) won the 2015 general election by a slender one-seat majority and despite repeated urges by fellow parliamentarians to change his vote, Persaud declined.
Jagdeo said the government has been a total failure and has not been keeping its promises to the Guyanese people who voted them into office.
Well people of Guyana if u decide that u want to vote in back ah racist corrupt criminal government so be it u will just suffer like u been doing for they last 23yrs with dirty money washing yur countrie more police corruption and extra judicial killing yur sons and daughters dying in they streets so be it but u cud never say u didn’t have ah choice between good and evil.