Finally addressing the long-overdue appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice of Guyana, President Irfaan Ali has said that while he has no issue appointing the top judicial officer, he would do so when the “right time comes.”
Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice Roxane George SC were respectively appointed acting Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice back in 2016 and 2017, following the retirement of then acting Chancellor Carl Singh, who was also never confirmed despite having served for 12 years. Guyana has not had a confirmed Chancellor for 17 years.
There have been calls from several sections of society for the substantive appointments of Chancellor and Chief Justice but successive governments failed to do so.
In a letter dated May 12, 2022, and addressed to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton signalled his intention to agree to confirm the appointment of the two justices.
However, Teixeira had informed that it was the President’s prerogative as to when and how he approaches the subject of the appointment of the Chancellor and Chief Justice.
On Friday, Stabroek News posed the question of the reluctance to further constitutionally mandated consultations between the Opposition Leader and Ali, which the President initially brushed aside.
However, he eventually said, “We have no issue appointing [a Chancellor and Chief Justice]. When the right time comes we will have the consultation on the appointment of Chancellor and Chief Justice. The [May 13, 2022] consultation was on the Commissions the President asked for consultations on.”
This is the first time Ali has publicly spoken about the judicial appointments.
Last week, Head of the Presidential Press Unit, Suelle Findlay-Williams told Stabroek News that the President is expected to make a pronouncement “soon.”
“The President has not briefed me on it as yet that is the Chancellor and Chief Justice’s appointment. But what I can say is that it is on the agenda and he is looking at it. He will make a pronouncement soon and we can expect that,” she had said.
Additionally, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, on his social media talk show had said that the Opposition Leader was confused about his role in the consultative process, explaining that consultations are initiated by the President on areas he deems fit.
“The President will determine whom he wishes to consult in relation to or in relation to what institution he wishes to consult on, not Mr Norton. The Chancellor and Chief Justice as important as those two offices are, they simply did not form part nor are part of this consultative process and Mr Norton cannot arrogate onto himself the power to determine that he will introduce into the consultative process, a new and foreign element. That will not be tolerated. That is wrong and disrespectful,” Nandlall said.
In April, civil society group Article 13 called for the immediate confirmation of Justices Cummings-Edwards and George and said that the onus is on President Ali to initiate the process.
Prior to Article 13’s statement, the current President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders called the failure to appoint the top judicial officers a “notable stain on Guyana’s judicial landscape.”
In addition to calling for the appointment of a Chancellor and Chief Justice, the Guyana Bar Association has also called for a change in the formula for the appointment noting that the current one is clearly not working. The current formula requires both the President and the Opposition Leader to agree on the appointees.
