When Guyana faced questions for its third and final day before the UN Human Rights Committee yesterday, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, was pressed to provide answers on the independence of the judiciary and specifically the reason this country for well over a decade now, continues to be without a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.
Concerns of executive interference and control in the appointment process for judges were raised by Portuguese committee member José Manuel Santos Pais by whom the questions were asked; with him stating that such a state of affairs negatively affects the employment and other benefits of judges, including their security of tenure; even as he called for urgent constitutional reform in this area.
“It’s not enough just to say that you have independent agencies, if the persons that run these agencies are appointed by those that should not appoint them,” he said.