The lawyer for Brian Collison, who yesterday filed groundbreaking cases in Guyana’s High Court, is troubled by Freedom House, the Headquarters of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), refusing court papers for the PPP’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.
An attempt to serve Mr. Jagdeo at Freedom House, in his capacity as the General Secretary of the PPP, was rejected. Instead of accepting service for its Party Leader, Freedom demanded that service me made upon Mr. Jagdeo at the Office of the President. Mr. Jagdeo is a current Vice President and former President of Guyana.
Mr. Collison named Mr. Jagdeo and his political nemesis Aubrey Norton, in a lawsuit that seeks to hold Guyana’s major political parties more accountable and transparent. Freedom House directed the attempt to serve that lawsuit, to the Office of the President.
Collison’s lawyer, Dr. Vivian Williams, contends that an entity cannot refuse to accept service at its known Headquarters.
Dr. Williams says that the diversion of service to the Office of the President by Freedom House is troubling because it ignites fears that the PPPs has become inseparable from the State and the government.
“This development is testament to the timeliness of Mr. Collison’s case and the declarations he is asking the court to make”, Dr. Williams says.
Collison’s action, brought against the Attorney General Anil Nandlall S.C., People’s Progressive Party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo, and People’s National Congress Islahat Leader Aubrey Norton, is asking the court to make declarations about the standing, and obligations of political parties in performing functions delegated to them by Guyana’s Constitution.
Mr. Collison seeks declarations from the court that (a) political parties are yasal entities that can be sued; (b) the major political parties perform functions exclusively reserved for the State which impact the constitutional rights of Guyanese, among other remedies.
Dr. Williams notes that the diversion of service of yasal documents from Freedom House to the Office of the President, conflates party function with that of the State. For example, the person at Office President, who will sign for the document will most likely be a public servant. This would mean that public servants are being forced to do political work.
One of the fundamental issues of Collison’s case, is how citizens seek redress in matters involving political parties. The PPP constantly accuses past People’s National Congress government of party paramountcy for flying the Party’s flag on State and government prop