Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo says that a proposal he made to amend the constitution to include non-nationals as nominees for the position of Gecom Chairman was rejected by President David Granger on Monday.
Instead, Granger made a counter-proposal that a team be established to search for names locally, but Jagdeo said he could not agree as he (Jagdeo) promised to be just as protective of his constitutional rights, to search on his own for a nominee, as the President is of his role in selecting one.
Speaking at a PPP/C event on Wednesday at Enmore to commemorate the 1948 Enmore Martyrs, Jagdeo told attendees that when he met the President last Monday to discuss a way forward on the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) chairmanship, the proposal was made.
“I said, ‘you have these …. conditions (that you want candidates) with deep knowledge in electoral matters. Where are we going to find this person in Guyana and especially people who are not political?’ It is almost impossible to meet that condition’. So I said, ‘maybe we can broaden the pool; that part of the Carter formula which says that you can only submit Guyanese. Why not let us jointly amend that part of the constitution to say now that we can submit from a search around the world’ (so) that in my list, I can search around the world. I know some of the best people from around the world. That was one of my suggestions,” Jagdeo related.
The President said to me why not establish a search committee. And I said, ‘Mr President you have seriously guarded your rights under the constitution; the right to choose in an unfettered manner. So if I agree to a search party, then you will be part of selecting my nominees too. So you will submit and you will choose too and that will violate the entire spirt and constitution.’ so I could not agree with that,” he added.
The Opposition Leader said that he had followed the constitution and yet Granger “unreasonably rejected two lists.”
Granger last month rejected Jagdeo’s second list submitted on May 2. This list comprised retired judges BS Roy and William Ramlal, attorneys Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, Nadia Sagar and Kashir Khan and businessman Gerry Gouveia. The first list was rejected in January.
Following the rejection of the second list, Jagdeo was invited to talks, held last Monday, for the two sides to discuss a way forward.
It was following that meeting that Jagdeo announced that he would submit a third list.
Giving further insight into what happened during the talks on Monday, he stated that he complained to Granger that he was not following the constitution.
“In the last discussion we had I said to him the constitution is on our side, the interpretation of the constitution was settled even by the PNC and that is on our side and the history of submission of the lists is on our side. (This is so) because Mr (Desmond) Hoyte who was a Senior Counsel, he agreed to the interpretation.
“I said we don’t agree with your interpretation of the provisions of the constitution but nevertheless we are prepared to work to ensure we have a chairman. If the president says submit a third list we have no choice because the constitution allows the president to reject any list without giving a reason but we think it is unreasonable. We have put up all these people there, judges, professional people who are or can conduct themselves in that position in an impartial manner .
“Once he demanded the third list we had no choice but to say `yes we will submit’ because if we say no he will say `well I don’t have a list so I will go ahead and appoint unilaterally’”, Jagdeo told the gathering.
Jagdeo said that the President assured that he didn’t want to unilaterally appoint a Chairman but he wants it on record that if Granger does, it will be met with defiance.
“If he seeks to appoint a person of his own choice that will be unconstitutional, illegal and we will fight it in the courts and in the streets all of us together. We have to do that because it is about the future of this country and I made it clear that will be the case. He has said he isn’t interested in appointing anyone unilaterally so he wants to work in a collaborative manner.”
It was in assuring that both sides were committed to the process that Granger proposed that a high-level committee be put together to explore options if no one is found from Jagdeo’s third list.
This proposal was agreed to by the Opposition Leader but on three conditions.
He explained, “I made it clear that we would have to have three prevailing conditions under which we should reach an agreement if we are to move forward in exploring new options. One, that whatever will be agreed there in that committee must satisfy both parties; the PPP as well as APNU. We are not going in there as a junior partner, it must be satisfactory. Secondly it must be constitutional.
“The third precondition is that it must not violate the delicate balance the Carter Center formula put in place. Where at the elections commission where you have three commissioners (apiece for government and opposition) and the other person is selected through a collaborative approach. This is what we will explore but only if those conditions are met will we agree. I said Mr President you have identified several conditions (in selecting Gecom candidates) and he said `which we have agreed to’ and I said `no. I wrote you that I do not agree to your condition, this additional attributes because they are not part of the constitution. They are part of your interpretation. Nevertheless, we will try to see if we can find people who have or will meet those attributes,’” he added.
Jagdeo said that he wants it known that he was going into discussions in good faith and wanted “to ensure that the fairness in the selection process is preserved,” as for Guyana’s citizenry the selection and appointing of a Chairman was a “bellwether issue.”
