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CV controversy …Pressure mounts for GECOM Chair’s resignation
Justice James Patterson is being called upon to do the decent thing and tender his resignation as the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in the wake of revelations that he was never appointed Chief
PPP/C Members of Parliament, Bishop Juan Edghill (rights) and Priya Manickchand.
Justice of Grenada as indicated in his Curriculum Vitae (CV).
The CV was presented and acted upon by President David Granger who appointed Justice Patterson on October 19, last. Justice Patterson admitted in a letter published by Kaieteur News that it was ‘a slip of the pen’ when he excluded that he ‘acted’ as Chief Justice of Grenada on the CV.
In his letter, Justice Patterson did not indicate what year he ‘acted’ as Chief Justice although his CV indicated that he served as Chief Justice in 1987. The 84-year-old could not recall what year he served as CJ when he was confronted by reporters following the sitting of the National Assembly last Thursday, nearly two weeks after the controversy first broke.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Members of Parliament, Bishop Juan Edghill and Priya Manickchand flatly accused Justice Patterson of lying about his CV.
“For me it’s not a mistake; it was a lie and it’s amounting to a whole lie,” Manickchand stated.
She shared the view that Justice Patterson didn’t have to wait until Thursday when asked by members of the press at the closure of Parliament to admit his mistakes.
A section of Justice James Patterson’s CV which indicates that he served as Chief Justice of Grenada in 1987.
“If it was a human error you have two weeks to correct it and that was one of my concerns I raised about the personality. If you don’t believe you have a duty to be transparent you’re not suited for that job. That job is all about transparency,” Manickchand said.
According to the former Minister of Education, Guyana is now a regional joke as a result of the fiasco.
“People are laughing at us. We have just appointed somebody who lied to us that he was Chief Justice of one of the countries and never was,” Manickchand noted.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who is also a lawyer, has downplayed Justice Patterson’s CV fiasco, telling reporters it is ‘neither here nor there’. Manickchand, herself a lawyer, said jokes are not to be made about things like whether someone acted or not, especially coming from the judiciary.
Manickchand recalled that former Minister, Jennifer Westford, acted as President of Guyana and in her capacity as Minister of Public Service approved the structure for the Child Care Protection Agency.
“If she [Westford] went and put on her CV that she was President of Guyana. Would that make her a fraud or would that be a human mistake? If Moses [Nagamootoo] goes next five years…and say he was President of Guyana…would that make him a fraud? Was he ever the President of Guyana or was he acting President of Guyana?” Manickchand questioned.
There is no constitutional provision as Acting president. One performs the duty of president in the absence of the president.
Edghill flawed President Granger who told the media that he was studying the CVs of the 18 nominees from Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
“If he had done some due diligence on Justice Patterson, he would have known whether the man was Chief Justice or not because it was the President who represented to the Leader of the Opposition and to the nation that the man he is swearing is highly qualified and competent he was the Chief Justice of Grenada,” Edghill stated.
He stated that the Government intended to dupe the nation and ‘they were caught with their pants down’.
The PPP/C maintained that Justice Patterson’s appointment was constitutionally illegal and has moved to the High Court to quash the appointment.
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