Kenneth George, OR, CCH, March 12, 1930 – April 6, 2009
Kenneth Montague George, OR, CCH, former Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Judiciary, died on April 6, 2009, aged 79.
Kenneth Montague George, who served as Chief Justice, Chancellor of the Judiciary, and President of the Courts of Appeal of Guyana, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Belize, was seen by many as a conscientious and careful but stern judge who was uncompromising in his principles. He was full of common sense and built a reputation as a shrewd, sound and capable, if undramatic, jurist. He was a decent person who never paraded his intellect and was noted for his reserved demeanour.
George began working as a clerk in the colonial civil service in October 1948 and took a BA as an external student at London University. He then went up to the UK in April 1953 to read law at Gray’s Inn. He was awarded the LLB degree from London University in May 1954 and, the following year, he qualified as a barrister-at-law. Returning home in March 1955, he was admitted to the local bar and established a private practice.
He joined the colonial legal service and was appointed as an acting magistrate in May 1958. He entered the Attorney-General’s chambers in January of the following year and was appointed a crown counsel; he became a senior crown counsel in May 1961. He went to Harvard University, USA, in September 1962 where he obtained the LLM degree and a certificate from that university’s International Programme in Taxation. Soon after returning home in September 1964, he was appointed to act as Registrar of Deeds and the Supreme Court and, later, was confirmed in the position of Registrar of the Supreme Court.
George’s career on the bench began with his appointment as a Puisne Judge in December 1966 and progressed to Judge of the High Court in August 1967; Justice of Appeal in 1976; Chief Justice in 1981; and Chancellor of the Judiciary and President of the Court of Appeal in 1988. Retiring at the age of 65 years in 1995, he received an appointment in The Bahamas to serve as a Justice of Appeal. He took up a similar position in Belize between 1998 and 2000 and returned to The Bahamas in 2000 as President of that country’s Court of Appeal.
Owing to his wide experience and long service over the years, Kenneth George had been called upon to serve as chairman of several commissions of inquiry from time to time. The most newsworthy, perhaps, was the inquiry into one of this country’s most dangerous environmental disasters that occurred when the tailings pond at the main Omai Gold Mines Limited mine was breached and millions of litres of cyanide-contaminated slurry escaped into the major Essequibo river system in August 1995. The incident precipitated public panic in the riparian community and considerable alarm and unease in the country at large which was awash with speculation and trepidation. It required George’s tact and strength of character to calm fears, conduct the inquiry and produce a clear, if controversial, report.
The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Discharge of Cyanide and Other Noxious Substances into the Omai and Essequibo Rivers found the company responsible for the accident but could see “no justifiable reason for OGML [Omai Gold Mines Limited] not being permitted to resume production” having regard to the contractual relationship entered into between the Government of Guyana and Omai Gold Mines Limited. In the last analysis, the commission did find Omai Gold Mines Limited responsible for bringing the noxious substance on their property; it was therefore liable for all the damage that directly resulted from the escape of the substance. The report, nevertheless, did set the stage for a rather rapid resumption of production and, moreso, the prevention of undue loss of revenue to the state.
Much earlier, George had served as Chairman of a Commission to investigate Jury Service (1965); Chairman of the Cane Grove Flood Relief Commission to investigate and make recommendations for compensation to victims of the flood (1966); Chairman of the Tax Reform Commission (1969); and Chairman of a Commission to investigate the Management of the Operations of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (1979). As Chancellor, he was also statutorily Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission and of the Advisory Council on the Honours of Guyana. After retirement, he was appointed Chairman of the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court to revise the 50-year-old, 300-page Rules of the High Court of Guyana.
George’s chancellorship benefited from the effects of the United States Agency for International Development’s Guyana Justice Improvement Project which helped to improve the overall functioning of the court system, reorganise the High Court library, modernise court reporting, and conduct training events and other activities. His was a septennium of moderate change and the Chancellor himself was regarded as an astute jurist with a lucid legal mind who helped to shape the law by contributing a considerable amount of important decisions, particularly in the area of civil law.
He stamped his independence of mind on the Appeal Court and delivered judgments which are still seen as ranking in influence in the profession, some serving as guiding principles in the Appeal Court and the High Court. His judgement in the case of Abdool Saleem Yassin and Noel Thomas v the Attorney General of Guyana in the Court of Appeal (1996) was regarded as significant.
He gave freely of his time to a number of charitable institutions. As a Freemason, he rose to the level of District Grandmaster and, as a member of the local district of the International Association of Lions’ Clubs, he once served as Deputy District Governor. An Anglican, he worshipped at the St Sidwell’s Church in Lodge where he was married and where his funeral service and burial took place.
Kenneth George was awarded the Order of Roraima “for service of an exceptionally high quality and beyond the normal call of duty in the administration of justice and in the field of law.” He had been awarded the Cacique’s Crown of Honour, in 1982.
He was born on March 12, 1930 in Rose Hall Village, Canje, Berbice, to Stephen and Etheline George, the eldest of three brothers and two sisters. He attended the Mission Chapel Congregational School and the Berbice High School in New Amsterdam and the Central High School in Georgetown.
Kenneth George married Hazel Esther, née McLean, in October 1965 and the union bore four children who survive him.