By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly–Guyana (IDPADA-G) has formally called upon the executive administration to demonstrate absolute constitutional maturity by immediately processing over $32 million in outstanding 2022 state subventions mandated by a recent landmark High Court ruling.
The clear ultimatum was delivered during a heavily attended press briefing on Tuesday morning by IDPADA-G Chairman Vincent Alexander. The executive briefing follows a grueling, three-year constitutional court battle sparked by the state’s abrupt decision to completely freeze the umbrella body’s statutory funding in late 2022.
Alexander hailed the recent ruling handed down by Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, SC, as a definitive milestone for institutional fairness, fiscal accountability, and the uncompromised rule of law in Guyana. He warned that any failure or prolonged delay by the state to honor its judicially directed financial obligations would be met with swift and direct legal enforcement actions by the organization’s legal team.
“We respectfully call upon the Government to demonstrate the same constitutional maturity that we have sought to uphold today by implementing the Court’s order promptly and fully,” Alexander stated firmly. “We have the concrete options to take further legal enforcement action if they do not voluntarily respond, which our attorneys are prepared to execute. Respect for the rule of law is not measured when judicial decisions are convenient; it is measured by how faithfully institutions implement judicial orders despite internal political disagreements.”
The High Court’s Foundational Judgment Metrics
The legal battle (IDPADA-G v. The Attorney General and Others) dates back to August 2022, when the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport suddenly cut off the body’s $8 million monthly allocation over disputed administrative overheads. Following a careful judicial review, the High Court established clear parameters regarding civil society funding protections:
- Procedural Unfairness Exposed: The Court ruled that the state acted improperly and outside the bounds of natural justice by abruptly terminating the allocation without issuing prior administrative notice or providing IDPADA-G a fair opportunity to be heard.
- The $32 Million Payback Order: Because the National Assembly had already approved the funds within the 2022 fiscal budget, the State was ordered to immediately calculate and disburse the remaining installments, totaling approximately $32,000,000.
- Future Reinstatement Limits: While the judgment enforces the release of the withheld 2022 allocations, it noted that because no permanent, multi-year commercial contract exists between the parties, the court cannot legally mandate the state to reinstate future, open-ended subvention blocks for subsequent budget years.
Dr. Vivian Williams, one of the prominent corporate attorneys representing the assembly alongside Nigel Hughes, emphasized that the current situation is strictly an issue of absolute statutory compliance rather than political consensus.
“Respect for the rule of law, as stated, requires unconditional compliance unless these orders are formally stayed or varied by a superior court,” Dr. Williams explained to reporters. “Sometimes, the absolute greatest demonstration of national constitutional maturity is simply to acknowledge that a court of competent jurisdiction has spoken, respect its sovereign authority, and ensure that its orders are faithfully and transparently implemented without delay.”
Alexander noted that behind the prolonged multi-year litigation stand real-world casualties—including local contractors, survey enumerators, small grant recipients, and auxiliary staff members who honored their commitments to the UN-backed diaspora initiative in good faith. By demanding the immediate clearance of the $32 million tranches, IDPADA-G aims to settle its outstanding service debts and bring much-needed financial relief to the grassroots communities that have borne the brunt of the state’s unilateral funding freeze.
