President David Granger has a moral obligation to explain his rejection without explanation of the list of nominees submitted for the post of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), according to former president Donald Ramotar, who says the head of state’s handling of the process could scare other potential candidates.
Ramotar told Stabroek News that he found the situation worrying and called on his successor to “do the moral thing” and let the public know why he felt that the list submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo was unacceptable.
“The list that was presented to him was not the list of the PPP [People’s Progressive Party]. The Opposition Leader ensured that it went through a process of wide consultation with stakeholders across the country. That ensured that the persons selected were all qualified and any one of them could be a good chairperson,” Ramotar told Stabroek News yesterday.
“I know that legally the president don’t have to give a justification but morally he should because there are people that have contributed and have a certain standing within this society.
Not only is this a blow to their morale but the way in which the president rejected all six persons could serve as a deterrent and other persons of high standing would be reluctant to accept nominations,” he added.
Following Granger’s rejection of his list of six nominees, Jagdeo wrote the president last week Tuesday requesting clarity on his interpretation of the criteria for the office holder and proposed an urgent meeting.
Granger on Wednesday said that Jagdeo will be given the clarifications, while sources indicated that there would not be a meeting. He also emphasised that regardless of what obtained in the past, now that the responsibility has been vested in him as president, the provisions of the constitution will be followed.
Article 161 (2) of the constitution states, “Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4), the Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge, or any other fit and proper person, to be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly.”
While the president has highlighted the legal qualifications stipulated by the constitution, Jagdeo and the opposition PPP have noted that it also makes provision for other “fit and proper” candidates to be appointed.
Granger himself was nominated for the post under the same proviso by then Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte, although he has since said that any breaches that may have occurred in the past must not be repeated.
Ramotar yesterday lamented that Granger’s promised legal clarifications had yet to be released, which he found troubling. “The president was the person who promised to give, according to him, legal clarifications. Yet, one week after it has not been forthcoming. We are still awaiting to see what these clarifications will be. I know that I am anxiously awaiting the president’s response,” he said.
“I am not a lawyer but like every person I know that those six persons are aptly qualified for that position. I don’t know why these people are unacceptable and I have searched and consulted with legal minds, apolitical and from both sides of the political divide and other persons and no one can give a clear-cut reason why not one person of the six were selected. I really don’t know what criteria he used unless, I can only say, that maybe the president already has his own choice,” he added.
Jagdeo has nominated chartered accountant and lawyer Christopher Ram; business executive Ramesh Dookhoo; author and Indian rights activist Ryhaan Shah; historian Professor James Rose; governance and peace practitioner Lawrence Lachmansingh and former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force and mining company executive Norman McLean for the president’s consideration.
Ramotar said that except for Rose, who he indicated was once on the PPP’s list of candidates, he sees no other person with known political affiliations. As a result, he reasoned that the president’s rejection could deter prospective candidates if another list is needed.
“I see no problem with the first list and I would say that if it really becomes necessary to go to a second pool of names you will most definitely get a problem because no one will want to suffer that blow without some of sort of explanation of why all of them, chosen in a pool of nominees, were unacceptable.
For you to have given stellar service in the public service or working areas, I am talking professionals, and to then hear that not a single one of you are unacceptable and case closed, would not augur well for persons at all,” the former president stated.
“Here are people that have contributed positively to this country and have a certain standing. It is very disturbing that these six people have been rejected. Knowing our history and this government of rigged elections and undemocratic rule, it is worrying and disturbing that the president has taken this position,” he added.
‘Undue tensions’
The Office of the Leader of the Opposition has also said that it awaits the president’s clarifications as only then can it decide on a way forward.
The PPP believes that the President’s rejection of the list and delay in clarification has caused undue tensions in the country and is also calling on him to deliver on his promises.
“We need the clarifications which have been promised. We also requested a meeting but it does not appear that that meeting would be a reality and we are thus awaiting the clarifications. I believe that any movement forward without the clarifications would be precipitous and premature,” PPP/C MP and former attorney-general Anil Nandlall said yesterday.
“The Office of the Leader of the Opposition is yet to receive ‘the legal clarifications’ which the president promised to furnish and the clock continues to tick.
One would have expected that this matter would have been treated with the urgency dispatched and importance and that the promised information would have been sent as early as is reasonably possible.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. The situation is currently in limbo and in my view it puts an undue and unnecessary strain on the democratic process. It excites suspicion and it raises political tension in the country, all of which the president must take responsibility for,” he added.
Nandlall said that never before since the Carter formula was initiated was there ever so much controversy over the selection of a Gecom Chairperson.
According to him, when the PPP was in government the issue was dealt with in a very straightforward and uncomplicated manner.
“Now all types of machinations and manoeuvrings are being employed and every Tom, Dick and Harrilall have become a constitutional expert in this country,” Nandlall posited. This same language has been in the constitution for the last 25 years; it never provoked a problem. The first time the APNU is in government a plethora of problems [has] arisen. It is as if there is an allergy to democracy,” he added.
