Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has submitted to President David Granger the names of 11 persons he had originally nominated to fill the post of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and who have agreed to have their names resubmitted.
“The … following persons have given their consent, and, are hereby submitted for consideration: Annette Arjoon-Martins, B S Roy (retired Justice of Appeal), Gerry Gouveia, Joseph Singh (Retired Major General and former GECOM Chairman), Kashir Khan (attorney), Krisndatt Persaud (former Senior Magistrate), Lawrence Lachmansingh, Norman McLean (Retired Major General), Onesi La Fleur, Ramesh Dookhoo,” said a letter, dated July 6th, from PPP/C executive Gail Teixeira to Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon.
The seven persons, who according to Jagdeo, indicated to him that they are no longer open to having their names resubmitted are attorneys Nadia Sagar, Sanjeev Datadin, Christopher Ram, Teni Housty and Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, Professor James Rose and writer/activist Ryhaan Shah.
Teixeira explained that the letter followed a telephone conversation between herself and Harmon on Friday and in keeping with the agreement between Granger and Jagdeo at a July 4th, 2019 meeting.
Jagdeo had submitted three lists of six persons to the President back in 2017, following the resignation of former GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally, who demitted office at the end of February 2017. He had served in the position for some 15 years.
Granger rejected all three lists, and on October 19th, 2017, he unilaterally appointed retired Justice James Patterson as GECOM Chairman. The President’s actions triggered legal proceedings, which went all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and ended with that court ruling on June 18th that the appointment by the President was unconstitutional.
The CCJ said that Granger had no authority to introduce new eligibility requirements and should have given reasons for rejecting the 18 candidates submitted to him by Jagdeo.
“…In view of the unfortunate process that was followed, the imposition on the Leader of the Opposition of criteria that were not sanctioned by the Constitution, and the absence of cogent reasons for deeming unacceptable the candidates and lists provided, the Court concluded that the process that was followed in the appointment of Justice Patterson was flawed and in breach of Article 161(2),” President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Justice Adrian Saunders said, while reading a summary of the court’s decision.
Granger said that he accepted the ruling but believes that he did not violate the Constitution and the CCJ should have explained how his decision was “flawed.”
On June 24th, the same day the CCJ gave both government and the opposition until July 1st to make submissions before issuing orders on the way forward on July 12th, Patterson resigned.
Last Thursday, Jagdeo and Granger met at the Ministry of the Presidency in the first meeting since the CCJ’s ruling and expressed hope that agreement on the selection of a new Chairman could be reached before they head back to court on Friday.
Both Granger and Jagdeo described the meeting as productive as they committed to “hammering out” modalities for nomination of a new GECOM Chair “within days.”
However, neither party would commit to assuring that the appointment would be made before the CCJ issues its orders.
Harmon had said that the meeting agreed that the process will be completed in the shortest possible time, which would require them working towards a list of persons to arrive at six, which Jagdeo would formally submit. “The conversations tended toward the injunction of the CCJ; that the process must be a consensual one. In keeping with that, we have agreed that the Leader of the Opposition will submit, in a very short manner, a list of names of persons that will be for the consideration of the President. This submission of names will also include any suggestion the President has for inclusion on that list… that list of six will then go to the President for him to choose,” he said.
He explained that to assist in expediting the process, two suggestions were floated. “One which sees a short group of technical persons, not technical in the sense of removing politicians, let us say a small group of advisors from the opposition and the president looking at the preliminary list of names and weeding out those which would not find favour either way. And once we arrive at…that list [it] can be presented to the Leader of the Opposition for him to present to the President. That is one approach,” he explained.
“The other approach is for the President and the Leader of the Opposition to sit and hammer it out by themselves”, he added.
‘Very clear’
In Teixeira’s letter with the submission of the 11 names, she listed the
opposition’s proposed names for the smaller group but said that Jagdeo was committing to joining them, if need be.
“With regards to the establishment of a smaller group to meet, I wish to inform you that the Opposition Leader has selected two persons – myself, Gail Teixeira, and Anil Nandlall, M.P., to represent him in these discussions,” the letter stated.
“We look forward to the submission of the President’s selection of his representatives as soon as possible. Further, the Leader of the Opposition wishes to reiterate to the President his availability to meet at any time, and, is prepared to join the smaller group meetings, if required. In conclusion, I reiterate our hope, and particularly that of the Leader of the Opposition, that the meetings between the Government and the Opposition will commence on Monday, July 8, 2019,” the correspondence added.
Jagdeo echoed the contents of the letter, when he spoke to this newspaper yesterday, but stressed that he wanted to make clear that his party was taking a stance to not return to the National Assembly or grant any extension for elections to be held, longer than within a three-month period.
He said that his party has stated his positions in their submissions to the CCJ and will speak to their attorneys on making those submissions public.
“I will speak with our attorneys on whether we should make public our submissions to the CCJ but I want to make a few things very clear that we have said. We will not attend any sitting of the National Assembly. In fact, to convene the National Assembly is unconstitutional,” he argued.
“We also will not support any extension for holding the elections. It is totally absurd to want that. GECOM and the President cannot determine when the elections are held in spite of stipulations in the Constitution that speaks to three months,” he added.
