Dear Editor,
With the accession to power of an administration demonstrably committed to governance based on the rule of law, loyal Guyanese are anticipating with bated breath a spate of tortious actions against public officials by the Attorney General for malfeasance in public office.
Depressingly, up to the time of writing there have been no such proceedings despite the removal of various public officials from office for abuse of their powers.
On 27th June, 2011 the Caribbean Court of Justice in an earth-rending decision determined that the Attorney General of Belize, as official custodian of the national patrimony, was competent to bring an action for the tort of malfeasance in public office against delinquent officials. In so doing, the Caribbean Court of Justice established an extremely daunting precedent in the Commonwealth where Caricom public officials, were addicted to dissembling for the outside world their spurious commitment to good governance while sanctimoniously engaging the services of regional banks in furtherance of their criminal transactions.
The determination of the Carib-bean Court of Justice in Florencio Marin and Jose Coye v Attorney General of Belize (2011) CCJ 9 (AJ) will hopefully bring to an end this culture of ignominy. Prior to this, all torts of misfeasance determined in Commonwealth jurisdictions were initiated at the instance of individuals and never on behalf of governments for the misfeasance of public officials. In effect, there was no case in any Commonwealth jurisdiction where states sought to utilise this tort against public officials abusing the powers of governance for their own personal gain.
In the characterisation of Guyana Justice Desiree Bernard, the instant appeal arose from a judgment of the Belize Court of Appeal and involved two ministers of a previous government who were sued by the Attorney General of the succeeding government for alleged misfeasance in relation to a sale of public lands at a price allegedly below market value, resulting in financial loss to the state of Belize and a corresponding benefit to the ministers concerned.
In light of the foregoing, our learned Attorney General is being put on notice that much is expected of him in terms of identifying and vigorously pursuing delinquent officials for the recovery of national assets and resources.
Yours faithfully,
Professor Justice Duke Pollard
