…PPP signals move to appeal

ATTORNEY-General Basil Williams and his team of attorneys comprising Barbadian Queens Counsel Hal Gollop and Ralph Throne and Solicitor-General Kim Kyte-Thomas, have expressed satisfaction with the ruling of Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire who upheld the appointment of GECOM Chairman Justice (ret’d) James Patterson as constitutional on Friday.

Speaking to reporters after the ruling was handed down, Williams who was flanked by members of his team described the ruling by the Chief Justice as “well-reasoned”, while noting that it reaffirms that the rule of law in Guyana is alive and well.

“It is a well-reasoned decision and it really reconfirms part of the ruling in the Gaskin case, but it confirms what we have been saying from the outset that the President under the Constitution is the only authority to appoint the Chairman of GECOM. There is methodology for him to arrive at his choice but at the end of the day only the President has the discretion,” said Williams.

Businessman Marcel Gaskin had approached the High Court last year for an interpretation of Article 161 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana. Gaskin questioned whether the list of persons for appointment as GECOM Chair to be submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo must include a judge, former judge or person qualified as judge; the President is required under the constitution to state reasons for deeming each of the six names on the list as unacceptable; the President is obliged to select a person from the six names on the list unless he has determined positively that the persons are unacceptable as fit and proper for appointment and whether a finding of act by the President that one or more persons on the list is not fit and proper renders the entire list as unacceptable.

Justice George-Wiltshire had ruled that persons nominated to be selected as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) do not have to be judges, former judges or persons qualified to serve as a judge. She also ruled that while the President has the ultimate say on who is determined fit and proper to serve in the post, and could also reject the list of nominees, he should provide reasons as to why specific persons are unsuitable.

APPEAL
Meanwhile, on Friday, Williams said, the Chief Justice’s decision is timely and noted that there is room for appeal should the applicants believe the ruling is flawed. “There is no crime for you to want to appeal a decision, it is all part of the rule of law and it is clear that the rule of law is alive and well in Guyana. So we are happy that the Chairman of GECOM could now comfortably move forward in the interest of the nation itself to organise fit and proper elections, as he has been determined to be fit and proper,” said a proud Williams who lauded his team for their efforts in the case.

However, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) indicated that it will be appealing the ruling of the Chief Justice. In a statement to the media, the party said, “we will be filing an appeal to challenge this decision in our ultimate quest to secure constitutional compliance. We are prepared to go all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), if the situation so demands, to reverse what we consider an erosion of our Constitutional and electoral democracy. We will expend every effort to ensure that our appeals are expeditiously heard, more particularly, at the Guyana Court of Appeal, since the decision of the Chief Justice (ag) is already available.”

The party said the ruling by Justice George-Wilshire has paved the way for future presidents to make “unilateral appointments”. “The PPP wishes to express its profound disappointment in the decision of Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George, in the matter filed by PPP Executive Secretary, Zulfikar Mustapha, challenging the constitutionality of the appointment of Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson as the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).”

The party said too that the decision “strikes at the heart of our Constitutional and electoral democracy” and has alleged that “It has destroyed that delicate balance, which a Chairman is intended to bring to the Guyana Elections Commission.

“The framers of the Constitution intended this Chairman to be appointed through a mechanism, which involves an input from both the President and the Leader of the Opposition, to ultimately produce a person who enjoys the confidence of both.

This is the reason why this Chairman is endowed with the power of a casting vote to break deadlocks at a bi-partisan Commission,” the PPP statement said hours after the ruling was handed down.