EVEN though the highest positions in Guyana’s judiciary, Chancellor and Chief Justice, are crucial to the functioning of the nation’s justice system, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has flatly refused to engage in constitutionally mandated consultations on the appointments.
The appointments of an acting Chancellor and acting Chief Justice are intended to make way for the current acting Chancellor, Yonette Cummings, to proceed on just over two months of accumulated leave.
Despite having publicly called for the confirmation of the Chancellor and Chief Justice, Norton dismissed President Dr Irfaan Ali’s invitation letter for meaningful consultation as a “waste of time.”
“I thought it would be a waste of time, and if I became involved in it, it would come over as if I allowed meaningful consultation when I know meaningful consultation wouldn’t occur. And so, I thought from a pure strategic standpoint, I should not engage on it at this time,” Norton said during a virtual press conference on Friday.
President Ali had written to Norton, who is the People’s National Congress (PNC) leader and presidential candidate of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), on July 4, requesting a response by July 18. However, no response was received.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, earlier this week, disclosed that Chief Justice (Ag.) Roxane George is set to step up and perform the functions of Chancellor of the Judiciary.
The Attorney General said that President Ali had “meaningfully consulted” the Opposition Leader on filling the posts but received no response within the legally required timeframe.
He firmly stated that President Ali had fulfilled his constitutional mandate, which requires consultation, and that silence from the Opposition Leader does not amount to a veto.
“A leadership vacuum in an important institution such as the judiciary for such a protracted period of time, the President indicated to the Leader of the Opposition that he is considering appointing to act in that position, the Honourable Roxane George. The President made reference to Article 127(2) of the Constitution… and indicated to the Leader of the Opposition his desire to appoint Chief Justice George to act as Chancellor,” Nandlall explained.
This latest move means Justice George, already the country’s longest-serving acting Chief Justice since 2017, will now also function in the top judicial role of Chancellor.
Guyana’s highest positions in the judiciary — Chancellor and Chief Justice — have remained substantively vacant for over two decades due to the constitutional requirement for agreement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition.
Since the tenure of the last confirmed Chief Justice, the late Désirée Bernard, from 1996 to 2001, the position has remained in an acting capacity. Similarly, following the tenure of the last confirmed Chancellor, also the late Désirée Bernard, from 2001 to 2005, that position has also remained in an acting capacity.
Following Justice Bernard’s elevation to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Carl Singh served as acting Chancellor from 2005 to 2017. From 2001 to 2015, Ian Chang served as acting Chief Justice. Following his retirement in 2015, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards was appointed acting Chief Justice from 2015 to 2017.
In 2017, she was elevated to the position of acting Chancellor, while Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire was appointed acting Chief Justice.
Since the 2001 constitutional changes, there has never been an agreement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition on these appointments.
From 2001 to 2005, then President Bharrat Jagdeo made multiple efforts to secure agreement from Opposition Leaders Desmond Hoyte and Robert Corbin to substantiate Justice Singh’s appointment, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
Nandlall has previously noted that repeated efforts by Presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar to confirm these acting appointments were obstructed by opposition leaders who failed to give their consent.
He also recalled the term of President David Granger, who led the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government from 2015 to 2020.
Nandlall further criticised Granger’s administration for not confirming Justice Cummings-Edwards as Chancellor, despite efforts in 2018 to seek agreement from then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to appoint former Chief Justice of Belize, Kenneth Benjamin, as Chancellor of Guyana.