President David Granger said yesterday that he is still looking at the Curricula Vitae (CVs) of the second list of six persons nominated by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom).
Three weeks ago, Jagdeo nominated former appellate judge B S Roy, former High Court Justice William Ramlal, former magistrate and now practising attorney Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, attorneys Kashir Khan and Nadia Sagar and former Guyana Defence Force Captain and businessman Gerald Gouveia for the post of Gecom Chairperson. Jagdeo submitted their names after his first list of nominees was rejected by Granger earlier this year.
Observers have expressed concern that the president is taking too long to choose a nominee particularly since the post has been vacant since December.
Asked yesterday for an update at the swearing in of two Appellate judges, Granger said that he received the CVs and “we are still examining the CVs”. He reminded that he had sent a list of criteria to Jagdeo and “we have to ensure that the new nominees are in accordance…”
Asked whether since former judges are included in the second list if there is a greater chance of someone being chosen, he said “no, as I said I am obliged to examine the list that the Leader of the Opposition submitted and we have not completed the examination as yet”.
Sources have told Stabroek News that Granger is not likely to pick any of the six, raising the prospect that a third list might be sought from Jagdeo.
Jagdeo earlier this week expressed confidence that the persons he nominated for the post meet the criteria outlined by the president.
“He said that he had a preference for people who were former judges, and are eligible to be judges and five of those six persons meet those criteria. I suspect that he could find one from the five or the six who will discharge the functions of Gecom in an impartial [and] independent manner,” Jagdeo told a press conference.
A submission on the “Qualities of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission” that was sent by Granger to Jagdeo said the candidate should be a person who is qualified to be a High Court judge and should have been an attorney for a minimum of seven years. It said that in the absence of candidates who do not meet these qualifications, “any other fit and proper person” should be appointed. In this regard, the statement specifies that such persons should have the following characteristics:
“a) that person is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge, capable of handling electoral matters because he or she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters
b) That person will discharge his or her functions without fear or favour, that is he or she will not allow any person or organization to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality;
c) That person will discharge his or her functions neutrally, between the two opposing parties as he or she would have done in court between two opposing litigants;
d) That person will not be an activist in any form (gender, racial, religious etc)
e) That person should not have any political affiliation or should not belong to any political party in any form, apparent or hidden;
f) That person should have a general character of honesty, integrity, faithfulness and diligence in the discharge of his or her duty as chairman.”
In his statement when the second list was submitted, Jagdeo had pointed out that he tried to cover all the criteria set out by the president. “It will be observed, that in respect of the names which I submitted to the President, one is a former judge of the Court of Appeal of Guyana; one is a former judge of the High Court of Guyana; three are attorneys-at-law with over ten years of good standing at the Guyana Bar and one is a former magistrate and therefore, qualify to be judges of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in Guyana, in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana; and one is a former Captain of the Guyana Defence Force, a pilot, and a businessman and entrepreneur,” Jagdeo stated.
Jagdeo has also made it clear that he will fight any attempt by the head of state to handpick his own candidate even as he expressed his willingness to prepare another list of nominees if necessary, adding that the Constitution provides for the submission of a third list.
“I’ll have to submit another list if he rejects this one but it will be extremely unreasonable for him to do that, (with us) having made the huge effort to meet the criteria that he himself set out,” he said.
