Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday insisted that he will not reconsider his rejection of the nominees for the posts of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice, while pointing out that President David Granger has not invited him to continue the consultation process as is required by law.
“No, I am not”, Jagdeo said when asked if he is inclined to reconsider Belizean Chief Justice (CJ) Kenneth Benjamin for the post of substantive Chancellor of the Judiciary and the present Chancellor (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards as the substantive Chief Justice. He was responding to questions during his weekly press conference hosted at his Church Street office.
It was a panel comprising retired justices Claudette Singh and James Patterson along with former University of Guyana Vice-Chancellor Harold Lutchman which was set up by Granger that selected Justices Cummings-Edwards and Benjamin for the respective positions. The panel’s task was to recommend the most suitable candidates to Granger after reviewing applications and as such these two names were presented to Jagdeo for consideration in January.
