Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday voiced concern over President David Granger’s delay in selecting a nominee to serve as the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), while stressing that filling the vacancy should be treated as a priority.
“…I am saying that I am concerned given the importance for elections, the importance for Gecom and the country… this issue should be dealt with on a priority basis, as an urgent matter and I do not see any sense of urgency on the part of the government and that’s my major concern,” Jagdeo told Sunday Stabroek when contacted.
On May 2, Jagdeo submitted a second slate of nominees for President Granger’s consideration.
Just over a week ago, Granger said that he was still looking at the resumes of Jagdeo’s six nominees. There has been no further word from government on the matter and attempts by the newspaper yesterday to get an update were unsuccessful, as Minister of State Joseph Harmon could not be reached for a comment. Jagdeo’s nominees are former appellate judge B S Roy, former High Court judge 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.
Jagdeo yesterday emphasised that the office of Gecom Chairman has been vacant for some time now and that there was need for a replacement to be appointed so that Gecom’s work can go on as required.
The past Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally resigned from office on November 30, 2016.
Granger, shortly after the swearing in of two appellate court judges on May 17, had said that “the CVs” of the nominees were still being examined. He reminded that he had sent a list of criteria to Jagdeo and “we have to ensure that the new nominees are in accordance….”
Jagdeo told this newspaper that so far he has not seen a sense of urgency from government to fill the vacancy. However, he said that Granger needs to see it as a priority issue and apply urgency in dealing with it.
“I may raise it because he said to me he is looking at the list but I don’t know what that means… I understand what it means but I don’t know how long looking at the list or examining the names… how long … he needs to get that done,” he said.
He added that the length of time that has passed is not required in order for a selection to be made.
A submission on the “Qualities of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission” that was sent by Granger to Jagdeo said 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 matter
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;
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 announcing the submission of the second list—after his first list was rejected in January—Jagdeo had 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 is a former judge of the Court of Appeal of Guyana; one is a former judge of the High Court of Guyana; three are attorneys-at-law with over ten years of good standing at the Guyana Bar and one 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 is a former Captain of the Guyana Defence Force, a pilot, and a businessman and entrepreneur,” Jagdeo stated.
Jagdeo has also made it clear that he will fight any attempt by the head of state to handpick his own candidate even as he expressed his willingness to prepare another list of nominees if necessary. “I’ll have to submit another list if he rejects this one but it will be extremely unreasonable for him to do that, [with us] having made the huge effort to meet the criteria that he himself set out,” he said.
Jagdeo at a recent press conference expressed confidence that the persons he nominated for the post meet the criteria outlined by the president.
“He said that he had a preference for people who were former judges, and are eligible to be judges and five of those six persons meet those criteria. I suspect that he could find one from the five or the six who will discharge the functions of Gecom in an impartial [and] independent manner,” Jagdeo said
