Fruitless meeting held with AG over Gecom chair – Nandlall

Attorney General Basil Williams SC and an opposition team met yesterday to discuss the criteria for nominations to fill the vacancy of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) but no progress was made.

It was President David Granger who recommended the meeting several weeks ago, after he had indicated that the list of nominees provided by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo was unacceptable.

At the meeting yesterday Williams represented government while former AG Anil Nandlall and attorney Priya Manickchand represented the opposition.

In a statement released late yesterday afternoon, Nandlall said that while they presented their interpretation of Article 161 of the Constitution, Williams was “unprepared” and said he needed time to prepare a response. Several attempts by this newspaper to contact Williams for a comment on Nandlall’s statement were futile. Williams was the one who set the date and time for yesterday’s meeting and up to press time last evening, he had not issued a statement on its outcome.