Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo today distanced himself from “perceived scurrilous” attacks in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle against Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh and stressed the importance of the separation of powers.
The PM, who has responsibility for the state media, was speaking at the Guyana Police Force’s Annual Conference where he was performing the functions of President.
Nagamootoo’s declaration on the series of attacks on Chancellor Singh will raise questions about what is transpiring at the state-owned newspaper and also the fact that the attacks were helmed by Attorney General Basil Williams.
A section of the PM’s presentation follows:
As the law enforcement arm of the Executive, you need to know and respect tenets of democracy, such as the separation of powers that guide the Executive in its relations with the Legislature and the Judiciary.
We are all better together. Stronger, too. So I ask you, as law enforcement officers and ranks, to respect our laws, our institutions and our democratic traditions.
Our Government has been leading the way in ensuring the independence of both the legislature and the judiciary, and making them financially and administratively autonomous.
In as much as any citizen, or the government for that matter, may criticise decisions emanating from our courts which, after all, are not cloistered halls immune from public scrutiny, our Government does not encourage attacks on the legislature and judiciary. It is not Government’s policy or decision to besmirch the character of any judicial officer. Our Government would not condone attempts, however well meaning or veiled, to impugn the integrity of judicial officers.
Since our APNU+AFC Coalition Government assumed office some 20 months ago, Guyana has enjoyed an unenviable image of a peaceful country, determined to uphold the Rule of Law, restore clean and accountable governance, and to distance our administration from both the pervasive corruption and executive interference that had characterized the not-so-distant past.
We must all bask in reflected pride and glory that in our democratic Guyana, we enjoy an open, multi-party parliamentary system. We have a free and plural press, where journalists are not persecuted and media are not suppressed. But we demand the right to fair comments, the right of reply and constructive and contemporaneous criticisms, however robust.
It is good to know also that Guyana has no political prisoners in our jails and though we have the death penalty in our Statutes, there have been no judicial executions over many years.
We have achieved all these positive attributes due to the fact that there is open and free political space in which the separation of powers is very much evident.
That is why, as Prime Minister with responsibility for the state media, I want to say this: while I would not interfere with editorial discretion, I disassociate myself from perceived scurrilous attacks in the Chronicle newspapers against the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary who will, less than a month from now, demit his substantive office as Chief Justice at the end of a distinguished career.
I say this because I feel that the national security architecture is better protected with an independent and strong judiciary, and when the branches function independently but in a way that cumulatively (a) enunciate policies and administer them; (b) make laws and approve public spending; and (c) protect constitutional rights and dispense justice that would enable them to ensure law and order, public safety, good governance and the rule of law.
