Search for GECOM chair continues
Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, and Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, met with the team representing the Opposition Leader – Anil Nandlall and Irfaan Ali – in the Mazaruni Room at the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday to discuss the nominations for the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). That meeting is expected to continue today as the teams seek to arrive at a consensus (MoTP Photo)
Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, and Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, met with the team representing the Opposition Leader – Anil Nandlall and Irfaan Ali – in the Mazaruni Room at the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday to discuss the nominations for the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). That meeting is expected to continue today as the teams seek to arrive at a consensus (MoTP Photo)

…as Jagdeo takes hardline approach on President submitting nominees

THE Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, has rejected President David Granger’s nominees for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and has further nominated four more persons for the position as the “hammering out” process continues, in accordance with the advice of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

In its landmark judgement last month on the unilateral appointment of a Chairman of the Elections Commission by the President, the CCJ said while the constitution mandates the opposition leader to submit a list of six names to the President that is not unacceptable to him, the two leaders, through an informal process, should arrive at a consensus before the names are formally submitted.

That ‘informal’ process was initiated on July 4 when the President and the Leader of the Opposition met at the Ministry of the Presidency, and has been ongoing since. The two leaders met again on Tuesday July 16 – days after their technical teams had shortlisted a list of 11 nominees that were proposed by the opposition leader, and had placed up for consideration two nominees proposed by the President from a list of eight.

It was at the high-level meeting on Tuesday, that President Granger indicated that four out of the five names shortlisted from the opposition leader’s list were not unacceptable to him as the President, and can be placed on the list that would be formally submitted to him.

At that meeting it was also agreed that as part of the ‘hammering-out’ process, the two names suggested by the President and others as may be necessary, will be discussed further by two smaller groups. Those two teams met on Wednesday at the Ministry of the Presidency, and included Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, and Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, – representatives of the President, and Members of Parliament Anil Nandlall and Irfaan Ali – the opposition leader’s representatives.

It was at that meeting that the four additional names were submitted by the opposition leader for consideration, after he, through his representatives, rejected the names proposed by the President. “The two names previously suggested by the President did not find favor with the leader of the opposition,” a joint statement by the two leaders stated. It was noted that the four additional names will be submitted to the President for his consideration, and the process of “hammering-out” will continue today Thursday July 17, 2019.

Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, speaking with reporters shortly after exiting the meeting on Wednesday (Photo by Adrian Narine)

Shortly after exiting the meeting, the Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency told reporters that the teams have agreed to conceal the identities of the additional nominees for the post of Chairman of the Elections Commission, and that will not make public their reasons for rejecting any nominee. Harmon would only say that the four additional nominees were not on any previous list submitted by the opposition leader, and that they are all Guyanese.

Asked by the Guyana Chronicle, whether the President will be nominating additional persons for the post now that his nominees have been rejected, the Director General said he would not be able to say.

“What I can say is, the President’s understanding of the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice is that in the ‘hammering-out’ process, that he will make submissions, and that he expects that the submissions will receive consideration by the leader of the opposition by a list that is consensual that would come to him,” Harmon said.

He noted that government is committed to arriving at a list that is favorable to both sides. “We are trying to make sure that the process is continuous, (and) we remain connected,” he posited.

Over at the opposition leader’s office, Nandlall and Ali confirmed that both parties have agreed not to disclose the additional names submitted for consideration by the President.
Nandlall noted that during today’s meeting, it is expected that they will receive a response from the President on the additional names submitted, noting too that the opposition leader, at this stage, can submit even more names for consideration by the President.

“I want to continue to maintain that the language of the CCJ must be read and interpreted in context and that context is, the article of the constitution, Article 161 (2), and that article places responsibilities on each of the two major players – the Leader of the Opposition, and the President. The responsibility of the Leader of the Opposition is to continuously produce names to the President to find the acceptance and acceptability of the President or the non-unacceptability of the President. The character of that exercise cannot change,” Nandlall said as he stood outside of the opposition leader’s office on Church Street.

“It is not for the President to keep sending names. This process is to find the non –unacceptability of the President, nothing else,” he added.

However, he said that the opposition leader has no issue with the President submitting additional names. “If one or two or three of those names find the acceptability or the approval of the opposition, then of course [our] jobs would be much easier, and we are hoping that that kind of name would come from the President,” Nandlall said.

It is the hope of both sides, that the process of nominating and appointing a new Chairman of the Elections Commission could be completed soon. The post became vacant shortly after the CCJ ruled that the process of appointing Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson in October 2017 by the President, was flawed.

Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, mandates the opposition leader, after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly, to submit a list of six persons, to the President for the selection of a Chairman of GECOM, however, the list must not be unacceptable to the President.

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