FIVE REJECTED
File Photo: Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan meeting with Gail Teixeira, Anil Nandlall and Bishop Juan Edghill, representing the Opposition Leader during a meeting at Castellani House on Monday. The meeting continued on Tuesday. (MOTP Photo)
File Photo: Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan meeting with Gail Teixeira, Anil Nandlall and Bishop Juan Edghill, representing the Opposition Leader during a meeting at Castellani House on Monday. The meeting continued on Tuesday. (MOTP Photo)

…Govt rejects five of Jagdeo’s GECOM nominees
…actively considering two, shortlists four to put on list of six

PRESIDENT David Granger, through his representatives, has rejected five of the 11 names submitted by the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, for consideration for the nomination and appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Two of the names, however, are under “active consideration” while four names have been shortlisted, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon disclosed on Tuesday after exiting a meeting with the Opposition Leader’s appointed team. The meeting was held at Castellani House.

Conservationist, Annette Arjoon-Martins; retired Justice of Appeal, B.S Roy; Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Gerry Gouveia; retired Mayor General, Joseph Singh; Attorney-at-Law, Kashir Khan; former Senior Magistrate, Krishnadatt Persaud; conflict resolution specialist, Lawrence Latchmansingh; retired Major General, Norman McLean; Onesi La Fleur, PSC executive Ramesh Dookhoo; and retired Puisne Judge, William Ramlall were nominees submitted by the Opposition Leader for the position. At this stage of the negotiations, both sides have agreed that the names and reasons for rejection would not be made public.

Tuesday’s teams, as was the case on Monday, included the Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who represented the interest of the President; while Gail Teixeira, Anil Nandlall and Bishop Juan Edghill, represented the Opposition Leader.
The Director General told reporters that the President’s team provided reasons for rejecting the five names. He reiterated that two of the names are under “active consideration” while four names have been shortlisted.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday at 16:00hrs at Castellani House.
“We will continue the hammering out process on Thursday at 4 o’clock at which time we expect that the eight names which were submitted by the President to the Leader of the Opposition, that we will have a view from the Leader of the Opposition on those eight names,” Harmon posited.

Those eight nominees are: former Chairman of GECOM Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, Justice (Ret’d) Stanley Moore, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette La Bennett, former Solicitor General Kim Kyte, Economist Dr. Aubrey Armstrong, Chairperson of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Attorney Kesaundra Alves and businessmen Kads Khan and Stanley Ming.

Eyebrows have been raised over the submission of Khan and Ming as nominees due to the fact that they are former Executive Members of the People’s National Congress (PNC), a partner in the coalition Government but Harmon said all of the President’s nominees are exemplary citizens of Guyana.

“These are people who have offered themselves for public service. These are citizens of quality and they have offered themselves for public service, and it is now for the teams that are meeting to hammer out and in the hammering out process some will fall off and some will remain,” Harmon told reporters in response to the concern raised.

Nonetheless, Harmon expressed the hope that negotiations can be completed within days. “It is really our hope to bring this process to a conclusion before the end of this week,” he posited while noting that progress has been made thus far.

In a statement, subsequent to the meeting, the Opposition Leader confirmed that President Granger had advised that two names were under “active consideration”; four names shortlisted and five names rejected with reason.

However, based on a report from his representatives, he said “efforts to ascertain if this meant that these six names were ‘not unacceptable’ to the President were not successful.”
He added: “we were also seeking clarity on what ‘active consideration’ means versus ‘shortlisted’ and none was given.”

The representatives of the Leader of the Opposition have indicated that they will be submitting additional names now that the review of the 11 names is almost completed.
“The representatives of the Leader of the Opposition affirmed that since the eight names informally submitted by the President were ‘not unacceptable’ to him, the Leader of the Opposition, in compliance with the Constitution, would take note of that in consideration of the six names he will submit to the President. The Opposition Leader’s representatives advised that they would report on the response of the Leader of the Opposition, but, made no commitment to discuss the eight names,” the statement read.

The Opposition has been keen on pointing out that while the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has advised that the President and the Leader of the Opposition agree to a list of nominees before a formal submission is made, it is the constitutional responsibility of the Opposition Leader to make the submission for consideration by the President.
The Chairmanship of the GECOM became vacant last June after CCJ found that the process of appointing Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson was flawed.

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