PRESIDENT David Granger has officially responded to Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, who has been seeking clarification as to why the President rejected his six nominees for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).The Guyana Chronicle has confirmed that Jagdeo received the President’s response on Wednesday night and in the correspondence, President Granger advised the Opposition Leader to send one of his representatives to seek the clarification from Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams “in order to avoid further misinterpretation or misunderstanding of this important constitutional matter.”

A statement from the Opposition Leader’s office Wednesday night noted, “We are disappointed that the clarifications that we requested have not been furnished. We are further disappointed that the President is unprepared to meet with the Leader of the Opposition on a matter of such crucial national importance. We had hoped that such a meeting would have exposed the President to a view that is different from that of the Attorney General, whom we presume, is advising the President on this matter.”

According to the statement, in the best interest of the nation, the Leader of the Opposition will accede to the President’s request to meet with the Attorney General.

“It is our hope that this engagement will provide the requisite clarity and will move the process closer to an early resolution,” the statement concluded.

The President had written Jagdeo informing him that he finds unacceptable his list of nominees for the post of GECOM; the nominees included Governance and Conflict Resolution Consultant, Lawrence Latchmansingh; Business Executive Ramesh Dookhoo; former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, retired Major-General Norman McLean; Attorney-at-Law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram; businesswoman Rhyaan Shah; and former University of Guyana Vice-Chancellor, Professor James Rose.0

The President had noted that the qualifications of the six people submitted by Jagdeo do not match the criteria as set out in the Constitution of Guyana. Jagdeo had then asked the President to provide clarification for his rejection of the list and also requested a meeting to deal with the matter.

When questioned on Wednesday about the issue, the President told reporters, “I myself did not feel that there was anything that was obscure or unclear in the constitution, so I’ve asked the Minister of Legal Affairs to examine the letter from the Opposition Leader to see whether anything I might have written was obscure.”

When asked if he will agree to the Opposition Leader’s request for a meeting, the President said, “Well as I said, he wants clarification; I don’t think he wants to meet me, he wants clarification…I think what he meant is that he wants the matter clarified and I will provide that clarification. I don’t mind meeting him, but as far as I can see, it is a matter of clarification.”

According to the President, he is in no hurry to unilaterally select a new Chair for GECOM; he says he wants to conduct meaningful consultations.

“I am obliged to conduct meaningful consultations with him [Jagdeo] and I will do that…I will not make a choice until after the consultations are completed. “

“I am a man of great patience. This is a constitutional matter, it is important to Guyana, so I am not rushing and I don’t want to bring the process to an end without both sides being satisfied,” the Head of State said.

It should be noted that this is the first time since 1992 that the Opposition Leader has submitted a list of persons to be selected as chairman of GECOM without at least one of them being qualified as a judge or a senior counsel.

And though Article 161(2) of the Constitution leaves room for a non-judge to be selected under the ‘fit and proper’ description, it is the President who determines this, Attorney General Basil Williams had said.