| The PNCR has written to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) expressing its concern over the involvement of the “purported Chairman” of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), allegedly, on its behalf, in matters relating to the forthcoming General and Regional Elections.This was disclosed yesterday by party leader Robert Corbin who told media operatives that the position of the PNCR, on the ERC, was made public more than two years ago, and has been regularly repeated.He said that the concerns of the Party were effectively stated in the National Assembly of the Parliament, since 2007, when the PPP, in clear violation of the Constitution, used its majority to pass Resolution #36, entitled “Appointment of Members of the Ethnic Relations Commission”,Cheap NFL Jerseys, dated 9 August 2007, which stated, inter alia, “That the National Assembly calls on the President to take such steps so as to enable the Ethnic Relations Commission to continue to carry out its constitutional responsibilities in the interim.”He said that the Opposition members voted against the resolution, which was in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution that confers no such authority to the President.He said that the Constitution clearly states that “not less than five and not more than fifteen members nominated by entities, by a consensual mechanism determined by the National Assembly, including entities, representative of religious bodies, the labour movement, the private business sector, youth and women, after the entities are determined by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all elected members of the National Assembly.”Corbin reiterated that both the life of the Commission and the tenure of the Office of the Chairman came to an end in 2007.He said that his party had clearly stated ever since November 2007, that: “This procedure (identified in the motion dated August 9,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, 2007) was transparently unconstitutional, since the Constitution does not confer any such authority on the President…The PNCR wishes to make it clear that the ERC is a Constitutional body which is governed by Article 212B, which states clearly how the ERC is to be constituted and which Groups of Entities should be invited to elect a substantive and alternate representative for appointment to the Commission.”According to Corbin, the only Constitutional role for the President, in the process, is to appoint the elected Commissioners.“The PNCR wishes to make it clear that the ERC, as presently constituted, is illegal and would not be recognized by the Party.”Corbin noted that Edghill, “obviously out of self-interest, has both facilitated and publicly defended this unconstitutionality…The public needs to be also advised that most of the original representatives and their alternates on the seven-member ERC have, for varying reasons, ceased to be active members of the Commission,Cheap MLB T-shirts, placing in doubt the legitimacy of purported decisions of the now dwindled three-person Commission, even if, as argued by its Chairman, the body is constitutional.”The Opposition leader said that the appointment by President Jagdeo, is in violation of the Constitution, and added that the circumstances place Edghill’s impartiality in doubt.“It is, therefore, the considered view of the PNCR that the Chairman is no more than a useful poodle of the Administration and an extension of the PPP…In this context,Wholesale NBA Jerseys, the PNCR will lend no credence to any arrangement entered into between the purported Chairman of that Body and GECOM as it relates to the forthcoming Elections, until that body is duly constituted in accordance with Article 212 B of the Guyana Constitution.”He said too that after six years, the PNCR’s Court action,Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic, challenging the constitutionality of the Integrity Commission, has not yet been heard by the High Court, thus provides no confidence that a similar action,NFL Jerseys From China, with respect to the Ethnic Relations Commission, would ever be heard in the High Courts of Guyana. |
