Two retired judges, a former magistrate, two attorneys and a businessman make up Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo’s new slate of nominees for the post of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom).
The names of former appellate judges B.S. Roy and Justice William Ramlal, former magistrate and now practising attorney Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, attorneys Kashir Khan and Nadia Sagar and former Guyana Defence Force Captain and businessman Gerald Gouveia were yesterday submitted by Jagdeo to President David Granger for consideration.
While Jagdeo had shortlisted eight persons to be his nominees, only four of them up to last week had agreed. Sources told this newspaper that it was only on Monday that the last two names were added to the list.
In a statement yesterday, Jagdeo, whose previous submission to the president was rejected, said it was not an easy task arriving at the six names.
“Having regard to the antecedents in relation to this matter, arriving at these six (6) names was not an easy task. I embarked upon an elaborate and protracted public and private consultative process which lasted several weeks, during which I solicited the views of, and sought nominations from, many nationally renowned persons and various
important stakeholders’ and representative organizations, in my efforts to ensure that I present six (6) names to the President who satisfy the requirements contemplated by Article 161(2) of the Constitution,” a statement from his office said.
Stabroek News tried reaching all six nominees but calls to Justice Roy were not immediately answered.
Justice Ramlal said that he was “not disposed to commenting at this moment.”
Khan emphasized that he accepted the nomination as a civic responsibility. “If given an opportunity to serve the society in which you live, I believe that everyone would and should serve. You have a duty to the society. I believe it was a civic responsibility,” he said.
“For me, it was a process where I do not know how my name got into the list but I was contacted by the Leader of the Opposition and told that my name was submitted from consultations they had with civic society and so on. The question for me was never about myself or looking into this and it—you see the core issue was never about me, it was always about service to my country. That about sums it up,” said Khan, who has been practising privately since 1997.
Sagar, Walrond-Allicock and Gouveia all said that they were honoured that their names were not only selected by the stakeholders consulted with but that were also shortlisted, which they felt was because they were suitably qualified.
“I think anyone who is asked to take up a position that carries such importance and fundamental functioning in our elections cannot refuse. I decided to accept based on my feelings, my very strong sense that we must always have free and fair elections in Guyana. I believe very much in the system of democracy and I think that my background in the anti-corruption movement and my background as an attorney was why I guess they saw me fit,” Sagar said.
“I feel very strongly that I am capable of taking up that position. There are also very strong contenders. I think that the other nominees are very strong and I think it is a very strong list. I think there are good people there and I have no doubt that whoever is selected will do a fantastic job. I welcome the opportunity to be of service to the people of Guyana, to act in the best interest of all the Guyanese,” she added.
Sagar helped to form Guyana’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI), for which she had served as president.
Walrond-Allicock, who was admitted to the bar in 1998, was confident that she would be able to serve Guyana’s citizenry and looks forward to doing so if selected.
Said the former magistrate, who resigned and now has a private practice: “I think my qualifications speak for themselves and I am happy and appreciative at being nominated. I am looking forward, if called upon, for the opportunity to serve my nation, in whatever capacity.”
While he admitted that he felt skittish when he was first asked, Gouveia explained that his dedication to service trumped his feelings and he accepted the nomination. “I had mixed feelings about it but more particularly my commitment to service and all my life I’ve been providing service so that when I was asked it was hard to say no,” he explained.
“I believe all citizens have a duty to serve and if you are not prepared to serve you do not have a seat at the table and as such can’t criticize people. I’ve been part of the private sector commission observer team…. I have been through the Gecom system, so, more particularly, I believe that people who know me understand that I understand the geography of Guyana in a real way. Logistics planning is an important part of my own professional development,” he added.
Jagdeo has pointed out that he had consulted with many other persons but they had all turned down the nominations. He, however, thanked them all for their input. He also singled out the organisers of his consultative process.
“I take this opportunity to thank all the organisations and persons who participated in this important consultative exercise. In particular, I wish to thank the Hon. Madam Justice Desiree Bernard, Madam Justice Claudette Singh (ret’d) SC, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran SC, Timothy Jonas and Ronald Burch-Smith, Attorneys-at-law, and others with whom I consulted but who indicated that their current commitments do not permit them to serve in the office of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, at this point of time,” Jagdeo said.
Contention
The process to select a Chairperson of Gecom to re-place Dr Steve Surujbally, who resigned, has been drawn out
due to contention over the criteria for the nominees.
Granger had rejected Jagdeo’s first list of six names as it didn’t contain any candidate who was a judge, a former judge or eligible to be appointed a judge. The first list comprised Chartered Accountant and lawyer Christopher Ram; business executive Ramesh Dookhoo; author, Indian rights activist and columnist Ryhaan Shah; historian Professor James Rose; governance and peace practitioner Lawrence Lachmansingh and former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force and mining executive Norman McLean. Jagdeo had maintained that the list was valid but undertook to submit a second list.
Although committed to resubmitting a new list, Jagdeo has voiced concern that Granger’s criteria for candidates may not be legal or constitutional.
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.”
But according to a submission on the “Qualities of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission” that was sent by Granger to Jagdeo, and which was released by the Office of the Opposition Leader, the candidate should be a person who is qualified to be a High Court Judge and should have been an attorney for a minimum of seven years. It said that in the absence of candidates who do not meet these qualifications, “any other fit and proper person” should be appointed. In this regard, the statement specifies that such persons should have the following characteristics:
“a) that person is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge, capable of handling electoral matters because he or she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters;
- b) That person will discharge his or her functions without fear or favour, that is he or she will not allow any person or organization to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality;
- c) That person will discharge his or her functions neutrally, between the two opposing parties as he or she would have done in Court between two opposing litigants;
- d) That person will not be an activist in any form (gender, racial, religious etc);
- e) That person should not have any political affiliation or should not belong to any political party in any form, apparent or hidden; and
- f) That person should have a general character of honesty, integrity, faithfulness and diligence in the discharge of his or her duty as Chairman.”
In his statement, Jagdeo yesterday pointed out that he tried to cover all the criteria set out by the president. “It will be observed, that in respect of the names which I submitted to the President, one(1) is a former Judge of the Court of Appeal of Guyana; one(1) is a former Judge of the High Court of Guyana; three(3) are Attorneys-at-law with over ten (10) years of good standing at the Guyana Bar and one (1) is a former Magistrate and therefore, qualify to be Judges of a Court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in Guyana, in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana; and one (1) is a former Captain of the Guyana Defence Force, a Pilot, and a Businessman and Entrepreneur,” Jagdeo stated.
