I exercised the right accorded me in the Constitution of Guyana

May 21, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have been bombarded with calls from persons from the media fraternity in relation to a letter that has supposedly been sent to this forum from Mr. Prem Persaud, retired Justice of Appeal and current member of the Judicial Service Commission, in relation to a matter of which I seemed to have been the main subject.
Basically, I would just like to make certain statements, for the sake of clarity in relation to the following five matters, (in no particular order).

1. That Mrs. Jagnandan had the power to sign a letter of suspension removing me from the Bench.
2. That Mr. Brynmore Pollard was not named.
3. That I had approached the High Court for redress in my matter.
4. That an appeal filed by my lawyers had operated as a stay of the proceedings by the Judicial Service Commission.
5. The “locus standi” of the Judge to reply.

In the first place, I will still maintain that under the law Mrs. Jagnandan has no power under the sun to sign any letter that will affect me negatively in the practice of my profession.

The power to remove me from performing my duties as a Magistrate, or even to be assigned to any other court, resides under the law only with the Chancellor of the Judiciary.

Any letter, therefore, emanating from this source must show on the face of it that it had been issued by the lawful authority. Such powers cannot be delegated. It is written in the law, and the spirit of the law must be obeyed. Anything else is unlawful.

With regards to Mr. Brynmore Pollard not being named, I would simply say that I had named him ad nausaeum in other forums as being a member of the Judicial Service Commission.

However, it always seemed to me that his presence at that forum was as a sort of “lightweight”. I say this because I never once enjoyed the confidence that another lawyer was present on the Commission who understood the issues that I had been trying to raise, in terms of natural justice breaches and other pertinent issues that make the adrenalin of “Blue Blooded’ Advocates flow.

This was just my opinion, and I marked it down to the fact that Parliament had enacted that a “non-practicing” lawyer should represent the interests of the lawyers on the Commission — a travesty as far as I am concerned. I have had to live with this for over 18 years.

I must confess that I am more than a little disturbed at the reference to my actions of approaching the High Court as if I was indulging in some kind of “wrong doing”.

I did notice this same kind of remark from Mr. Cecil Kennard on TV a few nights ago. In fact, he said quite bluntly that it was my “fault” to have approached the High Court.

The reference seems to suggest that I should have accepted what was being done to me, and seems to be in keeping with a perceptible new trend emerging now that certain persons do not have the “right” to access the High Court with a view to having wrong things being done corrected. This is a very sad situation indeed. I simply wish to say that I had every right to apply to the High Court for a determination of any issues as I may wish.
It is my right as a Guyanese, and no one should comment on my exercising that right in such a manner as to suggest that I was not entitled to take that action.
In closing, I wish only to comment on the fact that the letter written by a member of the Judicial Service Commission serves manifestly to provide the evidence of the issues that have been causing me a lot of concern over the years.
One issue relates to “objectivity,” or my perceived lack of it, being applied to me in relation to particular members of this Commission writing letters or making statements in the press about me in relation to professional matters. I have nothing further to say. The case has been proven.
Juliet Holder-Allen

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