The Alliance For Change (AFC) says Justice William Ramlal’s recent ruling that the spirit of the Constitution of Guyana never contemplated that the functions of Chancellor must simultaneously be performed by the same person who is the Chief Justice for any extended time as has happened during the past two years, must be regarded as bold.
The AFC said in a press release issued yesterday that it found it troubling that instead of President Jagdeo “performing his function in appointing preferably another Court of Appeal judge to perform the functions of Chief Justice, a challenge towards Justice Ramlal’s decision has been his reaction.”
And while acknowledging that it was the President’s right to challenge the decision, the party asked where would the Head of State take his appeal if the current state of affairs was allowed to prevail, or worsen with the impending retirement at month-end of Justice of Appeal Nandram Kissoon.
“The public should be made aware that there is likely to be no properly constituted Court of Appeal” to hear the challenge in the near future, the AFC stated.
It also queried how much longer it would take the President and the Leader of the Opposition, with the search committee and all, to agree on the substantive appointments. “This gridlock,” the AFC declared, “has done serious damage to the structure and organization of the judiciary, and the non-functioning of the Judicial Service Commission since February 2007.”
According to the AFC, full blame must be placed on the laps of the President and the Leader of the Opposition in not making, with rationality and urgency, decisions at this high constitutional level.
Meantime, the functionality of the judiciary, an important arm of the state, has gone into disarray, the AFC contended.
This case of high constitutional importance, the AFC added, has “consequences which must impliedly compel the President and Leader of the Opposition to get their act together to avoid a crisis in the judiciary,” which as it currently stands has no substantively appointed head.
