President says not ready to appoint chancellor, chief justice

Sep 09, 2022 News

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire

Chancellor (ag), Yonette Cummings-Edward

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday said the time has not come as yet for him to appoint a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.

Currently, Yonette Cummings-Edwards is the acting Chancellor and Roxane George-Wiltshire is the Chief Justice (ag). “We are not at the stage of addressing those issues as yet, there is nothing stalling it, and is just that we have not commenced addressing that as yet. I am trying to complete the Judicial Service Commission, these things must be in place almost instantaneously now that we have the clearance,” the President said.

The Constitution mandates consultation and agreement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition on the two top judicial posts. Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has already indicated his full support for the two judges acting in the positions to be confirmed. The Opposition Leader has written a letter to the President indicating his position. However, so far, President Ali has put the confirmation for the top judicial post on hold.

As a result, the President is facing a legal action for not initiating consultation. The last confirmed Chief Justice was Desiree Bernard from 1996 to 2001 and last confirmed Chancellor was the said Desiree Bernard from 2001 to 2005. Several sections of society have been calling for the substantive office holders of the two key positions.

The Guyana Bar Association has repeatedly called on successive governments to address the issue while successive Presidents of the Caribbean Court of Justice have called for the matter to address with urgency. Last April, President of CCJ Justice Adrian Saunders had called for Guyana to have a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice by year end.

The call for immediate appointment of the Chancellor and CJ came days after President of the Bar Association of Guyana, Pauline Chase and Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, SC, spoke of the impact, which the non-appointments have had on the state of governance. Both Chase and Nandlall had called for the formula used to appoint the officers to be reviewed and changed. For the past 17 years, the two top judicial posts were only held by persons acting in those capacities.

Chase called that the absence of substantive office holders as an “embarrassing state of affairs” that needed to be corrected swiftly while the AG noted that the legal formula, which requires the agreement between the President and Opposition Leader for the nominees to be appointed, has resulted in deadlock. “This has long been my position, to amend it; reason being is that ever since this formula was put into constitution, a President has never been able to secure the agreement of the Opposition Leader on the matter,” Nandlall said.

Meanwhile, Justice Saunders noted that while Guyana’s legal and judicial landscape has seen some transformations in its favour over the past decade, the absence of permanent appointees to fill the top position remains the “one significant blot,” on an otherwise impressive justice system. “For the country to have not appointed a Chancellor for 17 long years is very disappointing; likewise, to be without an appointed Chief Justice for several years,” Justice Saunders said.

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