PRESIDENT David Granger, while maintaining that the procedure used to nominate Justices Kenneth Benjamin and Yonette Cummings-Edwards for the positions of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice was transparent, said he is prepared to consider the Opposition Leader’s justification for rejecting the nominees.

Last February, the Opposition Leader rejected the nominees for the two, top judicial posts contending that after requisite due diligence he was unable to offer his support to either candidate. According to Article 127 of the Constitution of Guyana, “the Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition.”

At State House on Wednesday, President Granger when approached on the topic of judicial appointments, maintained that the nominees were selected based on a transparent procedure. He outlined that the positions were advertised and interested persons applied for either position. The nominees were selected and recommended to the President by a panel, comprising former Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh; Justice James Patterson and Professor Harold Lutchman. The President then wrote the Opposition Leader informing him of the nominees.

“It wasn’t something hasty or arbitrary or whimsical, there was a process. There was a public advertisement, people who were interested applied, a panel interviewed them and made recommendations, so when I met the Leader of the Opposition it was on the basis of a long process. I didn’t pull the names out of the sky,” President Granger told reporters.
The President said, though, it is within the Opposition Leader’s right to reject the nominees but that he is standing by his position that the process of selecting them was transparent and legitimate. He told reporters, however, that he is willing to consider Jagdeo’s justification for the rejection.

“He has not told me what his process was in rejecting it, but I am confident that my process produced the best candidates and I am prepared to stand by my candidates. I have described to you a detail and careful transparent process, so if he can show that he has a similar process and justified the rejection of my candidate, it is something to be considered,” the President said.

Justice Benjamin had served as a magistrate in Georgetown in 1980 and 1981, and subsequently an Assistant Judge Advocate for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). The Guyanese scholar has also served 17 years as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court (ECC). If appointed Chancellor, Justice Benjamin will replace Justice Cummings-Edwards, who has been acting in the post since March, 2017. Justice Cummings-Edwards has previously acted as the chief justice.

Guyana has been without a substantive Chancellor since 2005, when the then Chancellor, Desiree Bernard, retired and took up a position as judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the same year. The non-appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice is a result of the government and opposition sides not agreeing to the candidates for the post.