…high-level team to be appointed if third GECOM list fails

A THIRD list of potential candidates for the position of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will be submitted by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo to President David Granger for consideration.

This was agreed upon on Monday, during a meeting between the President and his team, which included Ministers Joseph Harmon and Raphael Trotman, and Jagdeo and his team which comprised Anil Nandlall and Irfaan Ali. The meeting was agreed upon last week, after the Opposition Leader’s second list of nominees was rejected by President Granger on June 2, 2017. Article 161 (2) of the Constitution stipulates that the Opposition Leader must submit a list of six nominees for the position of GECOM Chairman, of which no candidate must be unacceptable.

After his second list had been rejected, the President wrote Jagdeo explaining that he had examined the Curricula Vitae of the six persons and found the list to be “unacceptable” within the meaning of the Constitution and of those criteria.
Following the meeting a joint statement issued by the Ministry of the Presidency said that both parties agreed that it would be in the best interest of the people of Guyana that a Chairperson is appointed without undue delay. Additionally, the Ministry said that: “the parties further agreed that the Leader of the Opposition will submit a new list of six names to the President.”

However, the meeting did not conclude with those agreements alone. In fact, the statement revealed that it was also agreed by both parties that a high-level team, representing both sides, would be assembled, with a mandate of immediately exploring modalities to bring a resolution to this matter in the event that the third list is rejected.
No details were given on who would comprise that team or if persons have been identified on either side. After Jagdeo’s first and second lists were rejected, his office issued a statement expressing his “deep concern” over the “cavalier and callous manner” in which the President expressed no confidence in those persons who were nominated.
Jagdeo’s second list of nominees included: Justice of Appeal BS Roy (ret’d); Justice William Ramlal (ret’d); Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, attorney-at-law and a former magistrate; Kashir Khan, attorney-at-law; Nadia Sagar, attorney-at-law; and Businessman Gerald Gouveia.
The Opposition Leader had said that “it is his belief that the President is bent on unilaterally selecting a person of his choice in violation of the letter and spirit of Article 161 (2) of the Constitution and the Carter Formula. As such, he said that there will be consequences if the President chooses to go down that path.”

However, the President had made it clear that Jagdeo must submit a list that matches the criteria set out in keeping with Article 161 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana for the selection of a ‘fit and proper’ person to fill the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The Head of State in an interview with the Press and Publicity Unit of the Ministry of the Presidency, said that the list must include six persons who are all qualified so that the choice is not limited. “Every member of the list suggested must conform to the criteria and you cannot put on the list, a person who does not conform… I must be given a choice. I don’t believe that the second list gave me the range of choice that the people of Guyana deserve,” he said. “Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right and he has to get it right,” the President continued.

Article 161 (2) of the Constitution 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.”