Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan yesterday administered the oath of office to the Chair and members of the presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) tasked with examining the events of the March 02, 2020 general and regional elections.
Chair, retired Trinidad Justice of Appeal Stanley John and Commissioners: former Attorney General, High Court Judge and Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Godfrey P. Smith SC; and former Chancellor (Ag), of the Guyana Judiciary, Carl Singh took the oath of office in the Credentials Room at the Office of the President.
Former Chair and Chief Elections Commissioner of India, Dr S. Y. Quraishi was previously named as a member of the commission but he was not there at yesterday’s swearing-in.
The CoI is a result of a promise by President Irfaan Ali to investigate the attempt to rig the March 2020 polls. Five months after the March 2nd 2020 polls and after a series of legal battles, Ali was finally declared the winner of the presidential elections and subsequently sworn in as the country’s ninth executive president, on August 2, 2020.
After taking office, he promised the probe into the elections by an international team. He had also committed his government to pursue the necessary reforms to strengthen democracy and make the electoral process more transparent.
Following the swearing-in, yesterday, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall told reporters that the terms of reference (ToRs) of the CoI would be released before the end of the day. He noted that the document and process of the inquiry are public. However, up to press time, the ToRs and work schedule of the CoI had not been released.
When asked about some of the government’s expectations from the CoI, Nandlall said that the inquiry is to ensure that the events that followed March 02, 2020, do not recur.
“Democracy is central to the rule of law [and] the rule of law is central to a civilized society. Development cannot take place in the absence of the rule of law…our democracy was under severe threat at the March 2, 2020 elections… That must be interrogated. That must be investigated so that persons can be held responsible. The illegality and the conspiratorial role played by many will be exposed and most importantly, it must form part of the permanent record of this country, if only for one objective, that there must never be a reoccurrence of what transpired at those elections,” Nandlall related.
He added that the CoI is being conducted while the government moves ahead with statutory electoral reforms.
When asked about the cost of the CoI, Nandlall said that it is not something that he can comment on at the time but noted that such undertakings “are never cheap.”
“…commission of inquiries of this type, of being composed by the stature of persons that compose this commission of inquiry is never a cheap undertaking but monetary value alone cannot determine the importance of events. As I’ve said Guyanese for generations have been pauperized by rigged elections. Guyana was pauperized by rigged elections. Guyana’s social system and its population was virtually destroyed by virtue of rigged elections. So a monetary cost ought not to be the basis for not pursuing this undertaking. This is far more important than a quantifiable financial cost,” he lamented.
The CoI is expected to shine the spotlight on blatant acts of rigging such as the reading of fake numbers from Statements of Poll and the use of a bedsheet which frustrated the validation process. It took five months before the final result could be declared.
Several key electoral officials – including Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield and District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo are before the court on criminal charges.
To assist the Commission with its work, Dr Nasim Zaidi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India; and Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former Chairman of the Ghana Elections Commission will serve as resource personnel. Both of these men had been present as advisors during the elections under the auspices of the Commonwealth.
The chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and its commissioners are expected to be key witnesses.
Among those present at the swearing-in were United States Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch, British High Commissioner Jane Miller, Canadian High Commis-sioner, Mark Berman and Deputy Secre-tary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Dr Armstrong Alexis. GECOM Chair retired Justice Claudette Singh, as well as government-nominated Commissioners Sase Gunraj, Clement Rohee and Manoj Narayan, were also there along with Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud.
President of the Bar Association of Guyana Pauline Chase was also in attendance.
Interferences
At its weekly press conference, the opposition APNU+AFC said that it cannot support the decision to forge ahead with a CoI while there are two election petitions, at varying stages, before the courts.
“We note that the PPP/C government has sworn in a CoI into the 2020 General and Regional Elections. We cannot support such a decision. The matter is before the court and should be dealt with through the Election Petition,” APNU+AFC’s chief legal advisor Roysdale Forde said.
The APNU+AFC filed two election petitions to review the 2020 polls but one was subsequently dismissed. However, the case is currently before the Caribbean Court of Justice after the Guyana Court of Appeal ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the appeal of the dismissal of the petition.
The election petition was filed by Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse. On December 21st, last, the local court of appeal in a majority 2-1 decision ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the appeal of the petition. Chancellor Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory concurred with each other, while Justice of Appeal, Rishi Persaud dissented.
Acting Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George had previously thrown out the petition, after finding that presidential candidate of the APNU+AFC, David Granger was not served on time.
Thomas and Nurse are contending in their petition that the elections were unlawfully conducted and/or that the results (if lawfully conducted) were affected or might have been affected by unlawful acts or omissions. They nonetheless argue that from those polls it is Granger who should be declared the duly-elected President of Guyana.
When asked if the CoI is intended, in any way, to sway the ruling of the CCJ, Nandlall said that the processes are very different. He explained that the hearing before the CCJ has already commenced and the petitions were filed some two years before the CoI has even started.
“…there is absolutely no nexus between the two,” he assured.
The attempted rigging was aimed at returning the incumbent APNU+AFC to office but this was thwarted by unrelenting pressure from CARICOM, the United States, Britain, Canada, the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and observer teams from the EU and the Carter Center among others.
A painstaking recount of votes at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre which was monitored by CARICOM and the OAS eventually provided the basis for the Guyana Elections Commission to move ahead with the final declaration of the result.
The stalemate saw an extraordinary confrontation between the head of the Commonwealth observer team, the former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur and then acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings over a perceived threat by her to the observers. Arthur passed away several months after.
The Head of the OAS observer mission, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding also famously told an OAS Permanent Council meeting in May of 2020 that he had never before seen such a transparent attempt to alter the result of an election as witnessed in the numbers provided by Mingo.
Commissioners
Retired Justice Stanley John is currently serving as the Non-Resident Justice of Appeal, Turks and Caicos Islands. He presides over criminal and civil appeals from the Supreme Court. Prior to that, he served as Temporary High Court Judge of The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in Montserrat from April – July 2021. He also served as Temporary High Court Judge of The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the British Virgin Islands and Temporary High Court Judge of The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in Antigua and Barbuda.
In addition to these, Retired Justice Stanley John was once a Puisne Judge in Trinidad and Tobago from 1994 to 2002 where he presided over criminal trials and headed the Criminal Division of the High Court.
His professional appointments are as follows: Chairman of The Public Service Appeal Board, Trinidad & Tobago Mar 2019 – Present; Member of The Ethics Committee Cricket West Indies (CWI), Trinidad & Tobago 2016 – 2021; Disciplinary Tribunals for Magistrates, Trinidad & Tobago 1996; and Executive Director / Chairman of The Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, Trinidad & Tobago 1990 – 1993.
Godfrey Phillip Smith SC has served as Attorney General of Belize, a High Court Judge, and an Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean. Each has a track record of distinguished adjudication while leading major reforms and innovation to achieve efficiency in the business of resolving disputes.
He has also served as Minister of Tourism & National Emergency Manage-ment, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade, Attorney General & Minister of Information and Broadcast-ing, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister of Belize, and a Member of the House of Representatives.
Currently, the Former Attorney General is Partner at ByronSmith, Arbitrators & Litigation Support Services and Senior Partner, at Marine Parade Chambers, LLP, Attorneys-at-Law.
Retired Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh has held several key positions following his admission to the Bar in 1982. He fulfilled the roles of Magistrate- 1983, Land Court Judge-1988, High Court Judge-1995, and Court of Appeal-2000. In 2001, Retired Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh was appointed Chief Justice, and from 2005 – 2017 he served as acting Chancellor of the Judiciary.
The retired Chancellor (ag) also served as the Chairman of the Advisory Council to the President of Guyana on National Honours from 2005- 2017. From 2017-2019 he served as Professor of Law and head of the Department of Law, University of Guyana.
