President David Granger has rejected five of the 11 names submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo as possible candidates for the Chairmanship of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and has given reasons.
Following a two-hour meeting, the second between representatives of Granger and Jagdeo to identify candidates who would be formally submitted to the president, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon told reporters yesterday that the engagement was “progressive.”
“Of the 11 names, four have been shortlisted, two are under active consideration and five of those names were rejected,” Harmon said of the potential candidates proposed by Jagdeo.
Representatives for Jagdeo later noted that they left the meeting unclear about what the President meant when he said “shortlisted” and “under active consideration”
“Efforts to ascertain if this meant that these six names were “not unacceptable” to the President were not successful. We were also seeking clarity on what “active consideration” means versus “shortlisted” and none was given,” they said in a statement.
Asked for the names rejected, Harmon said that a decision was taken not to release the names as a “consideration… for their standing in society… as well as for security reasons.”
Jagdeo’s representatives reiterated this position, while noting that at this stage of the negotiations, both sides agreed that the names and reasons for rejection would not be made public but that in keeping with the CCJ ruling President Granger must give objective reasons for his rejection.
They referenced Paragraph 27 of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling, which states, “The President should only find a nominee unacceptable for some good reason on objective grounds.”
Also referenced was Paragraph 52 of the CCJ ruling, which states, “In the absence of reasons of the President, the question why a list was rejected by the President would remain a mystery, not only to the Leader of the Opposition, who submitted the list, but generally to the people of Guyana.”
In line with this part of the judgment, the opposition representatives have committed to making the reasons public “at the appropriate time,” if they feel that the reasons are not objective and in keeping with the ruling.
Harmon also told reporters that it is expected that the eight names suggested by President Granger to Jagdeo would be reviewed at the next meeting, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 4 pm. Also expected is a possible proposal by Jagdeo of other names for consideration.
The intention, according to Harmon, is to end the process by identifying a “not unacceptable” list of six this week. If a decision is reached on Thursday, it will come one day before the CCJ issues consequential orders in relation to the GECOM Chairman and the December 21st, 2018 motion of no-confidence against the government.
Granger was represented at yesterday’s meeting by Harmon, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence, while Jagdeo was in turn represented by former Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Juan Edghill.
Jagdeo had floated Annette Arjoon-Martins, retired Justice of Appeal B S Roy, 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. President Granger has suggested recently resigned Chairman Justice James Patterson, Stanley Ming, Kesaundra Alves, Dr. Aubrey Armstrong, Kadim ‘Kads’ Khan, Kim Kyte-Thomas, and retired judges Claudette La Bennett and Stanley Moore.
‘No commitment’
The opposition representatives had previously accused the President of failing to act in good faith during the process and left yesterday’s meeting without speaking with media. A press statement released later stressed the “informal’ nature of the meetings and the suggested names.
They disagreed with Harmon’s interpretation of Thursday’s agenda, while noting that they “made no commitment to discuss the eight names” submitted by the president and “affirmed that since the eight names informally submitted by the President were ‘not unacceptable’ to him, the Leader of the Opposition, in compliance with the Constitution, would take note of that in consideration of the six names he will submit to the President.”
“It was emphasized, repeatedly, by the…representatives at the meeting that the CCJ upheld the remit of the Leader of the Opposition to submit names, “not unacceptable” to the President, and that he did not have to offer reasons for his acceptance or rejection of names suggested informally by the President,” they reiterated.
In a video released while the meeting was in session, Jagdeo similarly stressed that the “discretion remains the Leader of the Opposition’s, in accordance with the Constitution, to determine the final six.
Jagdeo stressed that while he was prepared to consider the names suggested by the President, it was an informal consideration.
“The formal process will be when I submit the six names to him. This informal process is to see if we can find some commonality around names. I will treat the President’s suggestions seriously but the determination will be mine,” he stressed in the 10-minute video, which was released on his party’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile, in a video address to the nation, Granger reminded that in a letter, dated June 28th, 2019, Teixeira indicated that “the Leader of the Opposition is not averse to the President informally suggesting names in their proposed engagement for his consideration.”
He also reminded that the Court has suggested that most sensible approach to appointing the Chairman was for the Leader of the Opposition and President to communicate with each other, in good faith, and to discuss eligible candidates for the position before the formal submission of a list. Therefore once the President and Leader of the Opposition have “hammered out” a list of names “not unacceptable” to the President, the list of six persons must then be formally submitted to the President by the Leader of the Opposition and the President must then select the Chairman from among those names.
“The Government side is adhering to the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice and to the agreement with the Leader of the Opposition,” he stressed.
He suggested that the Chairman of GECOM being in place as early as possible is necessary for him to proclaim a date for elections, based on the advice of a GECOM that is ready to conduct elections.
“The Government side remains committed to continuing the dialogue and concluding the selection process within days to enable the Elections Commission to function. Once done, Guyanese can expect credible elections in the shortest possible time,” President Granger said.
