Dear Editor,
Someone needs to remind President Bharrat Jagdeo that an important reason why there is a separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government is to facilitate the effective functioning of the checks and balances system.
It is a workable system that does not necessarily seek to benefit the branches of government themselves or even the party in power, but the people. After all, the government is of the people, for the people, and by the people.
And that is why, based on an article in your edition of Sunday, January 6th, the President’s questioning of Justice Jainarayan Singh’s ruling instructing GECOM to ensure the AFC party gets its portion of monies to help offset scrutinizing expenses, deserves to be vigorously challenged and condemned by the public.
The mere notion of the President questioning the judge’s ruling amounts to running interference by the executive branch with the independent workings of the judicial branch. And it is not the first time. A few years ago, the President publicly questioned a magistrate’s decision to grant bail to a man on an illegal gun possession charge. So far, he is on record as publicly questioning rulings by the court twice in the last three years.
What are judges and magistrates to make of these public questionings? Are they to consider first that they are employed and paid by the government, and then carefully weigh their rulings between political expediency and subjective legal interpretations of the law so that they don’t make decisions unfavourable to government and risk losing out on future promotions and appointments?
Perhaps still fresh in their minds is the 1997 ruling by former Justice Claudette Singh in favour of the PNC to temporarily delay the swearing in of Mrs Janet Jagan as Guyana’s first American-born President. And when the time came for Justice Singh to be promoted to Chief Justice, the PPP regime went for someone her junior on the bench. After that bypass, she then became the subject of a PPP-PNC impasse when the Chief Justice’s job became vacant again. To probably save herself unnecessary embarrassment and help keep the judicial system functioning, Ms Singh resigned as a judge and now has a desk job in the Attorney General’s chambers.
But that 1997 ruling by Ms Singh also revealed an instructive lesson for both court officials and the public about the PPP’s actual perception of our judicial system, because on being served the papers seeking to temporarily delay her swearing in, Mrs Jagan tossed them over her shoulders on national television. In retrospect, could it have been the beginning of a trend by the PPP to bring the judiciary into disrepute, considering the President’s current attitude?
Still, doesn’t the President know that by virtue of the power and authority vested in his office, if he, the office holder, keeps publicly questioning court rulings he will, in effect, be undermining the independence and respect of the court, which could result in a loss of public confidence in the rule of law?
As for Justice Jainarayan Singh’s ruling on GECOM, it ought to stand on its own merit because GECOM is supposed to be an impartial facilitator of matters pertaining to registered political parties, and in this instance, ensuring all parliamentary political parties are treated equally when it comes to dispensing taxpayers monies to help offset the cost of conducting the house-to-house exercise.
The President is not above the law and cannot appear to be behaving this way! His own reasoning that the government made available taxpayer’s money to GECOM on “a discretionary basis” and that the judge erred by ordering GECOM to play fair, is not only very lame, but it encourages GECOM to openly discriminate against the AFC, a legitimate parliamentary party, which makes GECOM’s action quite illegal and further challengeable in a court of law.
I am truly baffled by some actions of the President who is yet to understand that while it is one thing to attain the presidency, it is another thing to make it work fairly and effectively. Right now, the President needs lots and lots of help before he keeps tripping over himself for the remainder of his tenure.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
