THE nominees for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are being “carefully” studied by President David Granger.
Granger confirmed that he has received Curricula Vitae (CVs) of the nominees from the Leader of the Opposition Bharat Jagdeo and is in the process of studying them carefully.
In an invited comment on the sideline of the commissioning of the East Coast Demerara Arch on Saturday, the President said that a date of announcement is still to be determined, because the list is being reviewed.

Jagdeo had submitted the new list of nominees on May 2, 2017. ‘The six nominees are: Justice of Appeal BS Roy (ret’d); Justice William Ramlal (ret’d); Ms Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, attorney-at-law and a former magistrate; Mr Kashir Khan, attorney-at-law; Ms. Nadia Sagar, attorney-at-law and Mr. Gerald Gouveia.
Prior to the submission of the new list, Jagdeo’s first list had been rejected by the President, who justified his action by stating that the six nominees were not qualified according to the constitutional requirements.

During one of his weekly recordings of ‘The Public Interest’, the President had revealed that the Constitution was clear on the required qualifications and it is obvious that what the drafters of the document had in mind was someone who had arrived at the position of a judge. The President made the comments after he had deemed “unacceptable,” a list which the opposition leader had submitted.

The Ministry of the Presidency quoted Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, which states that “…the Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds or who 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, or who is qualified to be appointed as any such Judge, or any other fit and proper person, to be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly.”