Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo will once again submit six nominees for the post of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) to President David Granger, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) announced yesterday, while saying the decision was taken to move the process forward.
“…in the interest of moving the process forward, today, the Leader of the Opposition wrote to the President requesting some additional clarifications and informed him that six (6) names will be submitted to him shortly in accordance with Article 161 (2) of the Constitution,” the party said in a press release that was issued last evening.
The release came a day after Attorney-General Basil Williams SC informed lawyers for Jagdeo that the constitution leans heavily towards a judge being the “ideal person” to lead Gecom and that any list of nominees solely comprising what he called the “secondary category” of “any other fit and proper” candidate would be deemed unacceptable.
The two sides had been haggling since December over the criteria for the nominees for the post after the president rejected the first list submitted by Jagdeo.
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.”
Jagdeo’s list did not include a judge but rather candidates that he felt could qualify under the “fit and proper” proviso. The list comprised chartered accountant and lawyer Christopher Ram; business executive Ramesh Dookhoo; author and 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.
The PPP has said that it suspects that President Granger is laying the foundation for the “unilateral appointment” of a Gecom Chairperson, which it fears is part of a plan to rig the next elections. It argued that such an appointment would be “unconstitutional” and would “compromise the integrity of the electoral machinery.”
The engagement between Williams and Jagdeo’s attorneys, initially intended to clarify conflicting interpretations of Article 161, ended on Monday with Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall accusing the AG of failing to define the attributes of a “fit and proper” person.
Williams’ submission to Jagdeo’s lawyers, which was released to the press after the meeting, stated that the President is empowered by the Article 161 (2) to deem a list acceptable or unacceptable. And, it adds, it is he who “ultimately decides whether a candidate is fit and proper for the office of Chairman of the Elections Commission.”
The PPP yesterday said that while it did not agree with Williams’ interpretation, the party recognises that Williams has finally conceded that Article 161 (2) of the Constitution qualifies two categories of persons for the position of Chairman of Gecom, namely: “Judges, former Judges and person qualified to hold the position of Judges AND, or any other fit and proper persons.”
“However, in our view, the Constitution does not accord any preference whatsoever to one of these categories of persons over the other as Williams contends. Neither the letter nor the spirit of the Constitution confers such a bias. We are of the firm view that persons from either of these categories are equally qualified for the position of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom),” the party said.
“Our position is consistent with the historical evolution of this particular Article of the Constitution, as well as, the qualities and qualifications of the persons who have held this position since this Article came into force,” it added.
