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Norton calls Ali ‘disrespectful’ over failure to hold 2nd round of talks on appointments
Meeting on constitutional commissions…
Kaieteur News – Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has accused President Irfaan Ali of showing a lack of commitment when it comes to fulfilling his obligation to hold consultations on the appointment of constitutional commissions.
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton
The Laws of Guyana stipulates that the President and the Opposition Leader must hold consultations before the appointment of constitutional commissions and important offices such as the Commissioner of Police, Chancellor of the Judiciary, and Chief Justice.
On May 13, 2022, Norton met President Ali at the Office of the President to hold the first round of discussion on the appointments.
Following the meeting, a joint statement was issued by both parties on the matters discussed. The two leaders were expected to meet again.
However, during a press conference on Wednesday, Norton explained that while the President gave a commitment to hold a second meeting on the appointment of the commission within seven days of the first meeting but it has not happened.
Norton explained, in response to a question about the progress of consultation “… I have not heard from the President and in my opinion, they are in breach of the very agreement they made that was put in the joint press statement.
President Irfaan Ali
And so, I don’t expect them to come to talk about the urgency of consulting because we have put in place a framework for urgent consultation and it has been violated by no other than the President himself.”
He told the press that he had suggested meeting in two weeks but the President insisted that they meet in seven days.
“First of all, I was saying let us meet in two weeks [for the second time]. The President said, when I said two weeks; he said it is unrealistic that two weeks is too long. He then said, I think we could meet and we agreed that we can meet in seven days, and that he will provide certain information…” he said.Norton continued, “Now, in my opinion, the President is very disrespectful. They do not honour agreements. This is an agreement that was made between the Opposition and the President that we will meet in one week. Until now, I have not heard from the President, and I hope the President doesn’t believe that when he says he wants to meet, I will disrupt my schedule of meeting the people of Guyana, doing my work just to meet with him.”
He further stated that the government cannot be trusted to keep its word, adding that the agreement has been violated without any explanation.
At the first meeting, Norton requested that the curriculum vitae of proposed appointees for the various constitutional commissions be provided for perusal prior to future discussions, and President Ali had agreed to make those documents available to him.
The statement which followed said that during the meeting, it was further agreed that the “consultations will be guided by the Constitution and the in-person consultations will resume on a date to be fixed, but within a week.” However, that meeting is yet to happen.
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