Criteria for selection of Chancellor, Chief Justice must be made public-Hughes

Jan 05, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News- Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes on Friday challenged President Irfaan Ali to make public the criteria that will be used to substantially appoint the country’s Chancellor of the Judiciary, Chief Justice and other judges.

Hughes told reporters on Friday that it is evident that President Ali does not intend to confirm the acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards and acting Chief Justice Roxane George, despite the fact that the women have been serving in these posts for seven years.

“So, the country has to ask some questions in an election year… the President said that he will shortly let us know who his persons are to be nominated for the position of Chancellor and Chief Justice, this clearly means that he doesn’t intend to appoint these persons,” Hughes explained.

He stressed that any decision taken in an election year, especially one in regards to the judiciary needs to be looked at with great suspicion. Hughes said that the process should be closely examined when appointing judges, the Chancellor and Chief Justice.

“It was our hope at the last constitutional reform talks that by requiring the consent of the leader of the opposition, that we at least would reach to some position of national consensus. It is evident that after the retirement of Madam Chancellor Bernard, the country has not ever had any form of consensus,” Hughes said.

The AFC leader said that in the interest of transparency as well as the country’s well-being, the AFC believes that the bases upon which judges, as well as the Chancellor and the Chief Justice are appointed in their individual cases, must be made public.

“This should no longer be left to the head of state in some form of privilege, but the entire country should know what the selection criteria is for the appointment of judges, whether at the High Court or Court of Appeal level, an advertisement is not sufficient,” the attorney at law stressed.

He continued: “So in the case of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice, if the President does not intend to inform us, or does not intend to confirm them, he needs to inform all of us about the reason why he would have allowed them to have acted for seven years, and now at this late stage of the day, not confirmed.”

On January 3, 2024 this publication reported that President Irfaan Ali has given no timeline or reason for the delay in appointing a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.

Justices Yonette Cummings – Edwards and Roxane George have been acting in position as Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice respectively since 2017.

Speaking at his end-of-year press conference, President Ali told reporters that the appointment of permanent office holders to the two top judicial posts is continuously and carefully being looked at.

He nevertheless, refused to give a specific reason behind his administration’s decision not to confirm the current office holders.

“There’s a process to be followed and, as the President, I would follow the process, taking into consideration all the circumstances that exist to ensure that we have a Chancellor and Chief Justice that would continue to take the judiciary into a place that all of us will be proud of, all of the region will be proud of,” he said.

The President also denied that the delay in appointing the substantive office holders has anything to do with the number of judgments emanating from the local courts that have been overturned by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

“I’m not going to comment …on the statement that a lot of political cases are being over turned by the CCJ. That has no impact… that is why you have the judicial course and that is how the courts operate. That is why you have persons who can go to superior courts…It has no impact on our decision-making…” Ali said.

The President’s comments are in keeping with the position taken by the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC who when asked about the issue declined to comment.

In response to a question posed at his year-end press conference, Nandlall, noted that “That’s a presidential decision, and the President will make that decision at the appropriate time. You can ask the President.”

“I have advised the President that he should choose his candidates carefully. The decision is his, provided that it finds agreement with the Leader of the Opposition,” the Attorney General told reporters.

(Criteria for selection of Chancellor, Chief Justice must be made public-Hughes)

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• AFC, Chancellor, Chief Justice, criteria, Nigel Hughes, public

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