Govt., opposition to meet on appointment of more judges

Mar 03, 2017 News

In the wake of the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Carl Singh meeting the age of retirement along with other judges, the government of Guyana is moving to appoint new judges soon.
At the weekly post cabinet press briefing yesterday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon stated that Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and President David Granger are to have a follow-up meeting on March 8 to discuss the issue of appointment of judges and other issues.
According to Harmon, the two leaders met earlier in a consultation as is required by the constitution to discuss the issue of appointing the acting Chancellor and acting Chief Justice. At that meeting Jagdeo was informed of the President’s decision to appoint Justice of Appeal, Yonette Cummings-Edwards as the acting chancellor of the judiciary and Roxanne George-Wiltshire SC as the acting Chief Justice. The President said that the void that was left with Singh’s departure from the Court of Appeal necessitated the appointments.
At that meeting, Jagdeo indicated that he needed seven days to consider the proposal; however the opposition leader was told that the president did not need his approval for acting appointments and went ahead with the appointments of the two women. It was noted that when the time comes to make permanent appointments, Jagdeo will have to agree on the nominees, as is dictated by the constitution.
At the meeting the Leader of the Opposition indicated that there was an urgent need to appoint other judges to ensure the proper functioning of the legal system. Jagdeo stated that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has made recommendations for a number of judges to be appointed and those recommendations should be acted upon at the earliest possible time.
The Judicial Service Commission in February last year recommended that Justice Rishi Persaud and Justice Dawn Gregory be appointed to the Court of Appeal and Attorneys-at-Law Sandil Kissoon and Damone Younge, be appointed as Puisne Judges.
The opposition leader at the meeting with President Granger on the appointments of Justice Cummings-Edwards and George-Wiltshire reminded the head of state that he has no alternative but to act upon recommendations made by the JSC.
At the moment, a team headed by retired Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh, Professor Harold Lutchman and retired Justice James Patterson are currently interviewing suitable persons to fill the positions of Chancellor and Chief Justice.

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