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‘No urgency in appointing chancellor, chief justice’
– AG says mechanism for appointment to be examined during constitutional reform consultations
Kaieteur News – Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, said Guyana could examine the mechanism used to appoint a Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice in the upcoming countrywide consultation process for constitutional reform.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC.
Addressing a virtual panel on ‘Constitutional Reform and the Republic: The Judicial Selection Process in the Context of Administration of Justice and Democratic Strengthening’ on Sunday, the Attorney General said Guyana has the extreme position where the appointments of the chancellor and chief justice must be made by the head of the executive and the leader of the opposition. However, the system has not been working.
He is hopeful that the ‘political directorate’ would find a consensus mechanism going forward. “Hopefully one of the provisions which will be microscopically examined in this process is the very article that speaks to the appointment of a Chancellor and a Chief Justice [and] hopefully we will get recommendations emanating out of the process which will find political consensus because you know, you require two-thirds majority to change these provisions in the constitution.”
Nandlall said too that the process must be initiated by the President for the substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.
“What is important is the President who must initiate the process of the appointment and securing the Opposition Leader’s agreement. It’s not the other way around. The Opposition Leader has made certain statements which have led me to conclude that he believes that he can conclude the process,” he can initiate the process,” he said during an virtual discussion organised by the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus.
Government is expected to soon embark on a widespread constitutional reform process as it seeks to upgrade archaic pieces of legislation embedded in Guyana’s Constitution, a commitment made in the 2020 manifesto.
One of the issues the government is hoping to remedy is the longstanding deadlock between any one sitting government and the opposition over the appointments of a chancellor and a chief justice.
Guyana has been without a substantive chief justice and chancellor for over two decades. Before her ascension to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in 2005, Justice Desiree Bernard was the last confirmed Chancellor of the Judiciary, and Justice Carl Singh the last Chief Justice.
“Unfortunately, the reality has been that we have never been able to appoint a chancellor or a chief justice substantively to those offices because we have never been able to secure an agreement between the president and the leader of the opposition,” the Attorney General relayed.
Justices Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Roxane George were appointed in 2017 to act in the capacity of chancellor and chief justice respectively by former President, David Granger. In the meantime, the Government of Guyana has promised to move forward with constitutional reform. In August, the government presented the Constitutional Reform Commission Bill 2022 to the National Assembly, an Act seeking to establish a Constitutional Reform Commission. The commission will be responsible for the revision of the constitution to provide for the current and future rights, duties, liabilities, and obligations of Guyanese.
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