Lyte, other official challenge suspension from GTU
Jan 27, 2025
—ask court to remove Coretta McDonald from General Secretary position
Kaieteur News- President of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) Dr. Mark Lyte and Second Vice President, Julian Cambridge, have filed an action in the High Court challenging their suspension by the organisation.
GTU President Dr. Mark Lyte
The action, which lists members of the GTU’s General Council: Mariska Williams, Coretta McDonald, Meon Crawford, Joseph Decunha and Emily Baker as respondents, seeks to set aside the suspension on the grounds that it was unlawful, ultra vires and null and void, being made in breach of the Constitution of the GTU and in breach of natural justice owed.
The Fixed Date Application (FDA) noted that the decision taken on 17 December 2024 to suspend Dr. Lyte and Cambridge from carrying out their elected duties as President and Second Vice President of the GTU was made on an incorrect factual basis and it was not a decision which could have been properly and lawfully reached on a consideration of the true facts. The applicants have asked the court for an order setting aside the decision.
2nd Vice President Julian Cambridge
The applicants also asked the court for a declaration that, on a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution of the GTU, the second Respondent, McDonald, is not entitled to lawfully hold the position of General Secretary of the GTU or any other elected position within the GTU while she holds the office of a member of the National Assembly of Guyana. Consequently, the duo want an order declaring the position of General Secretary within the GTU vacant.
In their grounds to support their application, Dr. Lyte and Cambridge through their lawyer Kamal Ramkarran, noted that on 17 December 2024, a motion was moved on the floor of a General Council meeting of the GTU to suspend the two men from duties as both the President and the Second Vice President of the GTU with immediate effect pending investigations.
The document states that the Motion, of which no notice had been given to the applicants, was voted upon and passed by a majority of the General Council of the GTU and the applicants were asked to leave the meeting. The applicants were given no notice of the Motion before it was brought and were given no opportunity either to be made fully aware of the case made out against them or to properly put forward an answer to the Motion or to the request that they be suspended from duties as President and 2nd Vice President of GTU.
The FDA also stated that “They were not made aware of what exactly needed to be investigated”.
GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald
The document states that the motion that resulted in their suspension alleged that they acted unilaterally by entering into an agreement with the government to end last year’s industrial action between the State and the GTU. The two men debunked this claim that they were not unilateral but were instead based on decisions made by the General Council of the GTU. The applicants stated that letters signed by McDonald were sent to various agencies, including the Ministry of Education, Education International, the Caribbean Union of Teachers, and the Ministry of Labour, notifying them of their suspension. They further alleged that their offices were “padlocked shut” by GTU officers.
(Lyte, other official challenge suspension from GTU )
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