GOVERNMENT has advertised for suitably qualified persons to fill the vacancies of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice. The advertisement, which appears in today’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle, comes days before substantive Chief Justice, Carl Singh, who is also acting Chancellor of the Judiciary proceeds on pre-retirement leave. Government has maintained that there is a vacancy for chancellor as Singh was serving in an acting capacity.
According to the advertisement, pursuant to Article 127 of the Constitution, the Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition. In the vacancy notice, the government said there is a vacancy for the office of the Chancellor and a vacancy for the office of Chief Justice shall shortly arise. Justice Singh is expected to proceed on pre-retirement leave at the end of this month.
The minimum qualifications for the posts, pursuant to Article 129 of the Constitution, are as follows: he or she is or has been 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; or he or she is qualified for admission as an attorney-at-law in Guyana and has been so qualified for such period as may be prescribed by Parliament.
Accordingly, suitably qualified applicants who fulfil the criteria set out under article 129 are invited to apply. Closing date for applications is 4: 30 p.m. on January 27, 2017. Applications to be sent by electronic mail to ministerofstategy@gmail.com or submit by hand and addressed to the Minister of State, Ministry of the Presidency, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive and New Garden Street, Georgetown.
While he was Opposition Leader, President David Granger had maintained that the positions of Chancellor and Chief Justice must be publicly advertised, but the then PPP government had said that such a process is not catered for. “The situation is not a new situation… It has been on the table for eight years. There are reasons by my predecessors why …I inherited a situation of gridlock and I proposed to President [Donald] Ramotar a means of breaking the gridlock and moving forward,” Granger had said back in 2014.
Granger had stressed that his position was one in the interest of transparency. “In the interest of transparency, I would like to see the post advertised and the best person selected for those two posts… I am confident if he accepts that recommendation, we will soon have a chancellor with which the whole population is happy,” he was quoted by the Stabroek News as saying back in 2014.