President Irfaan Ali is to today formally write to Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton inviting him to a meeting to be held within the next two weeks, to discuss constitutional appointments which require consultations between the two.
“Sometime tomorrow he [Norton] will be in possession of a letter,” President Ali last evening revealed on the sidelines of the launch of Building Expo 2022.
“My intention is to meet with the Leader of the Opposition in the next two weeks. There are a number of matters; constitutional matters. So those are what will primarily be on the table – the commissions. You know we have to get the Judicial Service Commission and everything into place, so yes, all the constitutional issues that require meeting with the Leader of the Opposition will be on the table,” the president added.
Approaching two years since Ali became president, there is yet to be a meeting between him and the Leader of the Opposition on constitutional appointments as former Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon was adamant that Ali was in office illegally.
Harmon’s stubborn stance on the issue saw a stalemate between him and Ali as the president insisted that he would not meet with an Opposition Leader who challenged the legality of his election.
Norton was sworn in last week as opposition leader and said that while he could not state then if he will push for a meeting with Ali, he was prepared to honour all the responsibilities commensurate with the office of Leader of the Opposition.
“I can’t say whether I will push for a meeting with the President. What I can say to you in keeping with the constitution is that I will honour all responsibilities of the office of Leader of the Opposition.”
Before that, he had told this newspaper in an interview last January that the reality is that the PPP/C is the government of Guyana and President Irfaan Ali and his office are accepted, but it does not change his belief that the 2020 election was manipulated to give those results thus making the government an “installed one.”
He stated that he and his party want a unified Guyana and he will meet with President Ali at any time, with the understanding that Ali is President and his party, the ruling government.
“I don’t need to recognise anybody. I need to know that they are the government and do what is required in the context. Everybody knows that they are the government…,” he had declared.
For the president, he wants to set the tone for consultations so that the respective positions can be filled substantially.
Under the laws of this country, the President and the Opposition Leader must hold consultations, guided by the respective clauses, for the appointment of the Commissioner of Police, Chancellor of the Judiciary, and Chief Justice.
Currently, Clifton Hicken has been appointed by Ali to act as Commissioner of Police.
The judiciary has been without a substantive Chancellor for 17 years. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has expressed concern about this matter over the years and only recently its president, Justice Adrian Saunders, called for the substantive appointment of a Chancellor of the Judiciary and a Chief Justice before the end of this year.
A number of commissions also require consultations before they can be established and these include the Police Service Commission, the Public Service Com-mission, the Judicial Service Commission, and the Teaching Service Commission.
