The responsibility to initiate the process to confirm top judicial appointments is the President’s, says a Guyanese civil society organisation called “Article 13”.
According to the organisation, President Irfaan Ali must initiate the process forthwith, noting that it is “unfair” for incumbents to serve as acting Chancellor and Chief Justice for years without obtaining substantive postings.
If the President is not so inclined to begin the process, he must say so and offer reasons. However, if the President commences the process and the Leader of the Opposition, with whom the Head of State must consult, does not partake in the process, then the onus shifts to that opposition leader to give reasons, the organisaiton said.
The call comes against the backdrop of a series of previous urges from the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Adrian Saunders and the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) President, Pauline Chase.
Justice of the Court of Appeal, Carl Singh retired in 2017, having acted as Chancellor from 2005, a period of twelve years. Justice Ian Chang retired in February 2016, having served as acting Chief Justice from 2010. Neither was confirmed at the dates of their retirement.
Mesdames Justices Yonnette Cummings-Edwards and Roxanne George have been functioning as acting Chancellor and acting Chief Justice from 2016 and 2017 respectively, to present.
Giving the feature address earlier this month at the annual dinner hosted by
the Guyana Bar Association, Justice Saunders described this state of affairs as “one significant blot on an otherwise impressive Guyanese legal and judicial landscape.”
But Article 13 said that Justice Saunders was perhaps “being only a bit subtler” than his predecessor, Sir Dennis Byron, who a couple of years earlier, described the same situation as having moved well beyond what ought to be acceptable in a modern democracy.
Furthermore, Article 13 expressed dismay that successive Administrations, Presidents and Leaders of the Opposition have been unable to agree on these appointments.
It said that this failure shows a disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law and puts the judicial system of the country in a negative light.
It added that the President and the Leader of the Opposition have taken an Oath to uphold the Constitution in its entirety, not partially.
