At 9 this morning, High Court Judge Damone Younge will be conducting a case management conference (CMC) in the action filed by the main opposition APNU+AFC contending that President Irfaan Ali is in “gross dereliction and abdication of the duty” and has no “lawful excuse” for not consulting with Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, on the substantive appointments of a Chancellor and Chief Justice.
The coalition wants the Court to declare that Ali has in fact failed to consult with Norton for substantive officer holders for the top two judicial posts.
Filed in the name of Opposition MP Vinceroy Jordan, the action advances that Ali’s failure to consult in accordance with Article 127 of the Constitution for ensuring the permanent appointments is a “gross dereliction and abdication of [his] duty.”
It argues that for as long as there remains no confirmed Chancellor and Chief Justice, the Court should declare Ali as being in continuous breach of his constitutional duty for which he has “no valid and constitutional excusable basis” for “failing” to consult.
Through his attorneys Roysdale Forde SC and Selwyn Pieters, Jordan (the Applicant) wants the Court to grant an order directing the President, through his Attorney General, “to be compelled to forthwith initiate the consultation pro-cess envisioned by Article 127 of the Constitution.”
The Section provides, “The Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition.”
Forde, who is also the main opposition’s shadow Attorney General has previously lamented the 17 years Guyana has been without a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.
He has said it is “public knowledge” that since Ali assumed the office of President on August 2, 2020, he has “refused” to initiate any consultative process with the Opposition Leader as is contemplated in Article 127.
Addressing the long-overdue appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice of Guyana, Ali in early June had said that while he had no issue appointing the two top judicial officers, he would do so when the “right time comes.”
Guyana has not had a confirmed Chancellor and Chief Justice for the past 17 years. Justices Cummings-Edwards and George SC were appointed acting Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice back in 2016 and 2017, respectively, following the retirement of then acting Chancellor Carl Singh, who was also never confirmed despite having served for 12 years.
There have been calls from several sections of society for the substantive appointments of Chancellor and Chief Justice but successive governments have failed to do so.
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.
