Georgetown: Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo submitted 11 names to the Ministry of the Presidency for consideration for the chairmanship of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), from the three lists of 18, he had originally submitted.
This occurred two days after the meeting between himself and President David Granger where both agreed that the process of selecting a chairman of GECOM was vital and would be done within days.
The nominees include Annette Arjoon-Martins; BS Roy (Retired Justice of Appeal); Gerry Gouveia (Captain); Joseph Singh (Retired Major General); Kashir Khan (Attorney-at-Law); Krishnadatt Persaud (former Senior Magistrate); Lawrence Latchmansingh; Norman McLean (Retired Major General); Onesi La Fleur; Ramesh Dookhoo and William Ramlall (Retired Puisne Judge).
The names were submitted on Saturday in a fresh round of consultation.
President Granger last Thursday recommitted to appointing a Chairman for Elections Commission in keeping with the requirements of the Constitution. He also committed to adhering to the guidelines outlined by the CCJ in its landmark ruling on the appointment of a chairman for GECOM, which requires consultation not only with the parliamentary Opposition parties but with the President and the Opposition Leader before a formal submission of six names is made to the President.
In October 2017, President Granger had appointed Justice (ret’d) Patterson, Chairman of the Elections Commission after he had found that the three lists of 18 names submitted by the Opposition Leader were unacceptable to him. He had activated the proviso within Article 161 (2).
“Provided that if the Leader of the Opposition fails to submit a list as provided for, the President shall appoint a person who holds or has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court of who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge,” a section of Article 161(2) states, placing in the hands of the President, the power to appoint a chairman of GECOM outside of the list provided by the Opposition Leader, once that list is unacceptable.
However, President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders, in handing down the ruling, said the President could not have rejected the lists because they were simply unacceptable to him.
“In our view, employment of the double negative, ‘not unacceptable’, signals that an onus is placed on the President not to find a nominee unacceptable merely because the nominee is not a choice the President would have himself made. By a majority, the court found, the President should only find a nominee unacceptable for some good reason on objective ground,” Justice Saunders said.
He explained: “If a President were permitted, capriciously or whimsically, without proffering a good reason, to reject eligible nominees, this would frustrate the proper working of the Constitution, defeat the intention behind the amendment to Article 161(2) and pave the way for unilateral presidential appointment.”
According to the CCJ, the President and the Opposition Leader ought to have met prior to the submission of the list, and consulted on names, noting that such a move would have allowed for consensus.
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