In the wake of concerns by the opposition about the sloth in discussions for the selection of a new GECOM Chairman, government yesterday said that it was working to have engagements between the President and the Leader of the Opposition “very soon”.
“Talks were never broken off…the last stage we were at was for the President and the Leader of the Opposition to meet again…we are working to have that engagement soon,” Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon told Stabroek News yesterday.
PPP/C Executive and a representative during talks for Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, Gail Teixeira, yesterday raised concerns that after one week there had been no move by government to schedule the continuation of talks for the selection of a GECOM Chairman.
“It is unbelievable that one week has passed and no meeting has been scheduled for the continuation of discussions at the informal level either between the Leader of the Opposition and the President or with their emissaries,” Teixeira said in a statement.
“We, in the Parliamentary Opposition, thought that we were making progress in the informal engagement, albeit slow, with 4 names that are `not unacceptable’ to the President. Despite the CCJ’s (Caribbean Court of Justice) ruling that the appointment of the chairman in accordance with the constitution is of `utmost urgency’, and the President’s statement on July 12th that the appointment could be done in a matter of days, the Leader of the Opposition’s informal submission of an additional four (4) names on July 18th for the President’s consideration with regards to their acceptability to him remains unanswered this is the `bad faith’ that the Caribbean Court of Justice warned about in their June 18th ruling and July 12th consequential orders,” she added.
On Wednesday, Jagdeo rejected Granger’s suggestion of retired judge Claudette La Bennett and GPHC Chairperson Kesaundra Alves for addition to the list of four persons already deemed “not unacceptable.” Jagdeo then submitted four additional names.
Harmon had said that the names would be forwarded to Granger for perusal and further direction.
No word on the President’s directive on the list or when the resumption of the talks would continue came on Thursday but on Friday it was announced that Granger was heading to Cuba for a medical checkup.
He returned to Guyana on Tuesday and up to last evening the opposition had not yet gotten notice of another scheduled meeting.
Teixeira said that the President’s public statement of commitment to the process must no longer be believed by the public.
“On several occasions he has changed his mind and in others openly contradicted earlier public statements such as those he made on July 12th, and July 19th, 2019 which are a complete reversal of the statements he made at his July 4th press conference following the meeting with the Leader of the Opposition with regards to the appointment of the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission,” she stated, using excerpts from Granger’s comments on July 4th.
“On July 4th President re-affirmed that `…yes l could make submissions, but in the final analysis, that submission has to come to me from the Leader of the Opposition, the CCJ has not taken away that role from the Leader of the Opposition and it has not taken away my prerogative to make a selection. Those have been preserved by the CCJ”. However, in his July 12th and 18th statements, the President has inserted himself in the role of submitting and determining names on the list of six from which he will select, a role in contravention of art 161 (2) and the CCJ ruling of June 18th 2019,’ she said.
She pointed out that Jagdeo has, on more than one occasion, written to the President and declared publicly “his availability to meet at any time and daily” in order to conclude the informal process of finding six names “not unacceptable” to the President in keeping with article 161 (2).
Recipe
The President on Friday said that Jagdeo’s rejection of his two nominees was a recipe for gridlock as he must have a role in identifying suitable candidates for the GECOM Chairman post.
“I’m not a passive participant; not an observer but an active participant…There must be a spirit of compromise. There must be acceptance of the role of the president in hammering out the list…there is no way the removal of the president’s role can result in an outcome that is consensual,” Granger repeatedly emphasised in response to questions from Deputy Director of the Press and Publicity Unit of the Ministry of the Presidency, Ariana Gordon.
He stressed that he could not sit and wait for a list since that process failed the last time and forced him to rely on the provision in the Constitution which empowered him to make a unilateral appointment. That appointment was ruled unconstitutional on June 18 by the CCJ.
Article 161(2) of the Constitution, which provides for the appointment of the GECOM Chairperson, says the office holder is to be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly.
Granger also repeatedly referenced the ruling from the CCJ on the selection of a GECOM chair, stressing that the court did not say that the President “may” have a role but that he “must” have a role in the process of hammering out a list. “The CCJ made it clear that it was not altering but interpreting the Constitution…moving away from unilateralism towards consensualism. The president has a role…the process will be faster and both sides will be happier,” he contended.
In its ruling, the CCJ said that the most sensible approach to formulating a list before one is submitted was for the Leader of the Opposition and the President to communicate with each other in good faith on, and possibly even meet to discuss eligible candidates for the position of Chairman. It said, “The aim of these discussions must be to agree the names of six persons who fit the stated eligibility requirements and who are not unacceptable to the President. In this regard, the Constitution anticipates that the Leader of the Opposition and the President will conduct themselves in a reasonable and responsible manner, eschew partisanship and seek the best interests of the Republic and the Guyanese people.”
It adds, “Once the President and the Leader of the Opposition have hammered out a list of names not unacceptable to the President, the list, comprising the six persons, must then formally be submitted to the President by the Leader of the Opposition and the President must then select the Chairman from among those names. This approach gives the President a role in the identification of the six names, but it obviates the possibility that, after the formal presentation of the list, the President could suggest that one or more of the names, or indeed the entire list, is ‘unacceptable.’”
