In a letter dated July 20th to President David Granger, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has emphasized that the responsibility for submitting names for Chairmanship of GECOM is exclusively his.
Jagdeo’s letter follows concerns raised by Granger in an interview on Friday that Jagdeo’s rejection of two of the President’s nominees: retired Justice Claudette La Bennett and GPHC Chairman Kesaundra Alves was a “recipe for gridlock”.
This had apparently been formally communicated to Jagdeo in a letter from Granger. This letter has not been released to the public.
In his response to Granger on Saturday, Jagdeo said:
“Your letter dated 17 July 2019, refers and its content duly noted.
I wish to assure you that the names you have conveyed to me were accorded the most serious of consideration.
“You will recall in a previous correspondence that it was indicated that I will not be averse to consider names suggested by you, in the informal process of `hammering out’ names that are not unacceptable to you. However, that must not be interpreted as an obligation upon me to necessarily include your suggestions on my final list of six (6) nominees in the formal process. Needless to say, that if I find any of the names you suggest acceptable then, of course, I will include them on my final list of six (6) names to be submitted to you, when the formal process commences”.
The Opposition Leader added that it must be clear to Granger that Justice (rtd) James Patterson’s appointment as GECOM Chairman was declared to be flawed and contrary to Article 161(2) of the Constitution on the specific ground that the appointment was unilaterally done.
Jagdeo then adverted to an answer given by Granger on 4th July 2019, in answer to a question posed by Guyana Chronicle reporter, Swetlana Marshall:
“I am looking forward, as the Director General (of the Ministry of the Presidency) explained and as I discussed with the Leader of the Opposition – he is open to nominations or recommendations on my part. But I cannot recommend to myself. The recommendation must come from him to me. And I will make a selection. But the CCJ ruling – and this might have caused some confusion in the media over the last couple of weeks – allows the two sides to hammer out, that is the word they use, hammer out, suitable persons for the list. But it means, yes, I could make submissions, but in the final analysis, that submission has to come to me from the Leader of the Opposition, the CCJ has not taken away that role from the Leader of the Opposition and it has not taken away my prerogative to make a selection. Those have been preserved by the CCJ.”
Jagdeo said that he agreed fully with that answer and reiterated that the responsibility to submit names under Article 161(2) is exclusively that of the Leader of the Opposition and the appointment of the Chairman is Granger.
Thus far, four names have been cleared by Granger as “not unacceptable” and two more are to be given the greenlight. Following the rejection by Jagdeo of the two names the President submitted, four more names were transmitted to Granger on Wednesday for consideration. Up to when he left the country for Cuba on Saturday for a scheduled medical check, Granger had not concluded consideration of the four names.
