This attitude to the judiciary is frighteningly dangerous?

May 18, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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A schoolboy knows that the most essential pillar of society that preserves justice, rights, freedoms, liberties, physical protection of the citizens, etc., is the judiciary. Khemraj Ramjattan said last week that the local courts and the Caribbean Court of Justice cannot tell GECOM who it must choose as its Chairman.
Of course, the courts can. This is how it could. If the president selects a person with a criminal record to head the police force, which was hidden at the time the president made the appointment, and the constitution says that the police commissioner must not have a criminal conviction, then, if challenged in court and the court rules against the president, the commissioner has to go.
If the CCJ strikes down the unilateral appointment of the current GECOM Chairman, then as the final court in the land, the GECOM Chairman has to go. By what mechanism could the President ignore the court’s judgment? Ramjattan found such a mechanism, and in describing it, Ramjattan has taken Guyana down an ocean whose waves may destroy national stability.
Speaking on television in Berbice last week, Ramjattan indicated that if the CCJ decided that there had to be consultation between Opposition Leader and President on the names for the GECOM chairmanship, then what the President could do is reject the names as he did before, explain why he doesn’t want them this time, and return with Patterson.
So in actuality what Ramjattan is saying is that the constitutional article that embodies a consensus framework that goes under the rubric of the Carter-Price framework can be reduced to a farce, if the President has a particular person in mind. In actuality, he is saying that should the highest court in the land uphold the Carter-Price formula, the President can reject the consensus model if he wants.
Do you realise the implications of those words for the stability of this country? It must be recalled that the CCJ President, Justice Saunders, reminded the lawyers representing GECOM and the Guyana Government that the constitution was amended to eradicate the unilateral jurisdiction of the president to choose a GECOM Chairman. He went on to say if the president still has that unilateral power, then what purpose does the Carter-Price framework serve.
It is possible that if the case before the CCJ challenging the President’s appointment of Justice Patterson to chair GECOM was still in progress and the judges read what Ramjattan said, it would have had a bearing on how they see things. Ramjattan’s semantics were pellucid. He said all the President has to do is reject Jagdeo’s lists, give reasons, and re-appoint Patterson. After uttering this danger, he went on to boast that the local and CCJ judges cannot decide who should be GECOM’s Chairman. This is rough stuff coming from a man who says he wants to be the next prime minister of Guyana.
Where does this position of Ramjattan leave the analyst? How does the analyst assess the implication of these words by Ramjattan? It would appear to me that Ramjattan’s mind is made up – he doesn’t want the consensus pathway. He is happy with the Granger’s method – choose a person you feel will favour the ruling party.
Before we go any further, it must be emphasised that for all the criticism and violent activism the PNC threw at the 23-year-old reign of the PPP, the GECOM Chairman was chosen by the Opposition. Under such a formula, APNU+AFC won a majority in parliament in 2011 and won the general elections in 2015. Simply put, the Carter-Price blueprint worked. Why change it?
Granger changed it. Ramjattan doesn’t want it. So where does that leave Guyana? My opinion is that there is a plan for the APNU+AFC Coalition to stay in power. My opinion is that the next general elections will be rigged. What are the latest indications of this? One is the attitude of Ramjattan. When for over 23 years the Carter-Price article in the constitution produced free and fair elections, and suddenly a new political leadership in government derecognises it and went in the unilateral direction, it tells you that the intention is to ensure power is retained by conspiratorial mechanisms.
The second indication is the emotional ranting of GECOM Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, that GECOM’s legal advisor was up to some trick when she gave her opinion that the voters’ list can be revised without going through house-to-house registration. It turned out that the legal officer was requested to submit the opinion in a transparent way, and did not share it with any Opposition member of the commission. Trotman, like Ramjattan, gave it away. The election will be rigged.

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