Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman, is calling on President Irfaan Ali to commence the engagement process with the Leader of the Opposition for the critical and long over-due substantive appointments of Chancellor and Chief Justice.
Lack of substantive appointments to those posts and that of Commissioner of Police and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Shuman said, results in the “weakened state of the Judicial Arm of Government.”
In a letter to President Ali dated October 22nd, 2021 and released to the public, Shuman expressed concern over the continued acting appointments which he said he hopes to persuade the President to swiftly rectify.
He has noted that despite calls for confirmation of the two top legal posts by both previous and current Presidents of the Caribbean Court of Justice—Sir Dennis Byron and Justice Adrian Saunders respectively—Ali has made no moves toward aiding the appointments, though it has been more than a year since his government took office.
Shuman has urged the President to be guided by his constitutional obligation to engage the Leader of the Opposition in ensuring the appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.
Against this background he is calling on the President to drop his position of refusing to engage Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon, because he (Harmon), has said that he does not recognize Ali’s Government as being legitimate.
Shuman reasoned in his letter to the Head of State that Harmon’s mere acceptance of the role of Opposition Leader, represents his acknowledgement of Government’s legitimacy.
No obstacle
Shuman said that in those circumstances, there is “no obstacle in undertaking the consultative process for such appointments.”
President Ali has repeatedly, publicly said that he will not engage Harmon unless he first recognizes the legitimacy of his Government. This is not a constitutional prerequisite for engagement.
Shuman took the opportunity to remind the President of the constitutional requirement for the Court of Appeal to have a substantive Chancellor, and the High Court a Chief Justice; even as he lamented the well-over a decade since a Chancellor and Chief Justice have been substantively appointed.
Guyana has not had a substantive Chief Justice since Justice Desiree Bernard was elevated to the post of Chancellor in 2001 and no substantive Chancellor since Justice Bernard stepped down from the bench here in 2005.
Shuman also took the opportunity to point the President to Article 122A (1) of the Constitution which provides, “All courts and all persons presiding over the courts shall exercise their function independently of the control and direction of any other person or authority; and shall be free and independent from political, executive and any other form of direction and control.”
The Deputy House Speaker referenced a 2017 address to the 37th Annual Bar meeting where Sir Dennis called for the confirmation of the acting appointments of the Chancellor and Chief Justice.
Shuman quoted Sir Dennis as saying, “this situation has moved well beyond what ought to be acceptable in a modern democracy where respect for the rule of law is maintained. The constitution envisages the judiciary of Guyana to be headed by officials who are substantively appointed and enjoy all the legal and institutional mechanisms to secure their tenure. Anything otherwise is, to my mind, a violation of the spirit and intent of the constitution.”
Shuman is urging President Ali that having regard to Article 127(1) of the Constitution which mandates that the Chancellor and Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition, he must urgently confer with Harmon to secure his agreement for the substantive appointments.
“The failure to rectify the omission to fill these positions with substantive appointments means the continuing violation of the spirit and intent of the constitution” Shuman said.
