A highly anticipated ruling on whether or not the application filed by two private citizens for Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo to disclose the academic qualifications of his Presidential Candidate, Irfaan Ali, has merit, has been deferred. The ruling, according to Jagdeo’s lawyer Anil Nandlall, was scheduled to be delivered this afternoon by Justice Franklyn Holder. Following an almost one-hour long in-chamber hearing at the High Court in Demerara, Nandlall told reporters that the matter was adjourned until March 19.
On February 07, private citizens Dianna Deravinee Rajcumar and Phillip Marcus, through their lawyer, Stephen Lewis, approached the High Court seeking an order for Jagdeo to produce the qualifications of Ali for their perusal. Contending that they are entitled to know the qualifications of the presidential hopeful, Rajcumar and Marcus wants Jagdeo, who heads the PPP/C List of Candidates for the upcoming elections, to produce the First Degree Certificate and Transcripts for any First Degree conferred on Ali.
Apart from that, they also want information on the name of the university or institution Ali would have obtained his qualifications.
Further, the concerned citizens are asking for information concerning the nature of the study completed in relation to any First Degree; information setting out whether Ali was issued with a Certificate of Graduation, which states that it was issued by the Business College, West Demerara Chamber of Commerce and information on whether any studies at the said Business College, West Demerara Chamber did lead to him acquiring a BA Degree in Planning.
Further, they are also requesting a copy of any transcript issued by the said Business College, West Demerara Chamber in respect of a BA Degree in Planning; information on whether any Degree was obtained by Ali from the University of Sunderland along with a copy of the certificate and transcript from the said university. Should the court grant their request, they are asking that the documents be produced within same days from the date of the court’s order.
About two weeks after their application was filed, Nandlall filed a Notice of Application asking that the action be dismissed as it is scandalous, frivolous and vexatious and is an abuse of the Court’s process pursuant to Rule 14.01(1)(a) of the Civil Procedure Rules.
In fact, Nandlall, a former Attorney General, argues that the application filed by the citizens does not challenge the qualifications for election of the President which are set out in Article 90 of the Constitution of Guyana.
He said that by virtue of the aforesaid Article, Ali is duly qualified to be elected as President. Ali has maintained that his “real” certification, including diplomas and degrees, are already in the public domain. In October last year, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad released its list of graduands for the academic year 2018/2019. Ali was on that list as a graduand for a Doctorate of Philosophy in Urban and Regional Planning.
Right now, Ali is facing 19 fraud charges for allegedly selling State lands way below the market price to high ranking public officials including Jagdeo. It is being alleged that the lands worth some $212.4M were sold for a scanty $39.8M. His lawyers have moved to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to have the charges quashed. The Court’s ruling in this regard is imminent.
