Dear Editor,
I am appalled at Professor Duke Pollard for criticizing acting Chief Justice, Roxane George, for her decision in the “no confidence motion case”. In my view it is highly improper for a former judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to give an opinion publicly in the controversial and most talked about case while the matter is still pending and most likely will end up before the CCJ.
Justice Pollard was appointed a CCJ judge from the inception in April 2006 and was the first judge to be given a three-year extension when he reached the age of retirement (72 years). The extension had to be done by way of Protocol Agreement. It was later decided that the age of retirement of all the judges be 75 and not 72. Justice Desiree Bernard retired at 75 on March 2, 2014 (incidentally she will be an octogenarian in two weeks). She is now a judge of the Bermuda Court of Appeal. An outstanding Guyanese woman with many firsts.
Justice Pollard in his interview with the government-owned and controlled Chronicle newspaper said that the acting Chief Justice misdirected herself in ruling that the Cabinet ought to have resigned immediately after the passage of the no confidence motion. He also weighed in on the Chief Justice not granting the interim stay of her decision saying “in the normal course of events, it is expected that the Court of Appeal will grant a stay and conservatory order to properly ventilate the issues in the chief justice’s decision”.
After retiring as a CCJ judge in 2010, Pollard joined the University of Guyana as a law professor. He was later appointed one of the legal advisors to the government and it is believed he had an input in advising President Granger on the interpretation of “any other fit and proper person” in the appointment of 84 year old Justice James Patterson as Chairman of GECOM.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
