Dear Editor,
There was a lapse in protocol at the official swearing-in of President David Granger at Parliament Buildings on Saturday, May 16. It occurred during the reciting of the oath of office administered by Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Justice Carl Singh. President Granger recited the following oath, “I, David Arthur Granger do hereby solemnly declare that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the people of Guyana. That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana without fear or favour, affection or ill will, and that in the execution of the functions of that office, I will honour, uphold and preserve the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.” Upon careful examination of the language, it would be observed that this oath has been watered down, and was cut off. In the very first line, the rhetorical word ‘declare’ was substituted for the judicial word ‘swear’. Secondly, the last line, “So help me God”, was completely omitted. This omission makes the oath devoid of God as the Supreme Being over the affairs of Guyana. The presidential oath is judicially administered and thus the word ‘swear’ should be restored for posterity.
Purely in the interest of ensuring that the new government starts off on a righteous footing, I wish to point out that the oath taken by President Granger was not the original oath on the Instrument of Appointment taken by presidents prior to 1992. The oath taken in October 1992 by President Cheddi Jagan was ‘affirmed’ with his right hand without holding any ‘Holy Book’. The last line, calling on God’s help, was deleted, thereby ‘declaring’ the ‘I’ in the oath as ‘supreme’. I believe that was owing to Dr Jagan’s religious ideology.
At President Granger’s swearing-in, I observed a brief hesitation surrounding the use of the Bible. There seemed to be uncertainty on the part of the presiding officials. Fortunately, President Granger, a practising Christian, insisted on holding the Bible which he raised to the heavens to the delight of the crowd. He then rested his hand on this Holy Book throughout the oath.
In the interest of rectification, President Granger, a highly accomplished historian, should have the oath re-administered by the Chancellor of the Judiciary at his official inauguration on May 26, so that the line “So help me God” could reverberate across Guyana on Independence Day, thereby restoring God as supreme over the affairs of Guyana. There is a precedent for re-administering the oath. In 2009, United States of America Chief Justice John G Roberts, incorrectly recited part of the oath while administering it to President Barack Obama. Roberts prompted, “That I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully.” President Obama hesitated at “execute,” and then waited for Justice Roberts to make the correction. Roberts, after a false start, then followed Obama’s “execute” with “faithfully”, which resulted in “execute faithfully,” both of which were incorrect. Obama then repeated Roberts’ initial, incorrect prompt, with the word “faithfully” after “United States. The President had to retake the oath the next day.
Yours faithfully,
Standhope Williams
