The Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL) yesterday voiced its “disappointment” that a candidate for the position of Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) was not arrived at by consensus as envisaged by the Constitution of Guyana.
“The GAWL also finds it regrettable that the reason or reasons indicating the bases for which the names submitted were found to be unacceptable were not previously provided and expect that these would soon be forthcoming,” the organization said in a brief statement on President David Granger’s controversial decision to unilaterally appoint retired judge James Patterson to the post. Patterson was selected after Granger rejected 18 candidates submitted in three lists by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
“It is unfortunate that an approach which would have provided greater clarity and transparency to this process of national importance was abandoned and in the circumstances the GAWL urges that the process of constitutional reform be embarked upon at the earliest opportunity to address this and other issues,” it added.
