Dear Editor,
Soviet and Russian poet and author Yevgeny Yevtushenko said:
“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.”
The truth which was published by Stabroek News on Sunday, 20th January, 2019 concerning the issue of the appointment of Senior Counsel was replaced with five days of silence by the Executive. But the truth did not go away. The issue snowballed, and the Attorney-General has now replaced his silence with a statement, couched in his inimitable style, which has been reported in the media.
In his statement, the Attorney General confirms (1) that the learned Chancellor had submitted my name to the executive among the list of Attorneys approved by the judiciary for the title Senior Counsel, and (2) that the Protocol Officer from the Office of the President called me to inform me of my appointment. He suggested that Mr. Vic Persaud, the Protocol Officer, had ‘unwittingly conveyed to me that I was approved, when in fact I was only recommended, but still had to be considered by President David Granger’ for the conferral.
But of course, Mr. Vic Persaud did not contact all the people on the Judges’ List. He contacted only Fraser, Boston, Poonai, Shalimar-Hack, Ramcharran and myself. Therefore, the exercise of selection/weeding out had already been undertaken by the Executive before Mr. Persaud made his calls of congratulation to Counsel. And of the six persons contacted and congratulated, only one received a second call from Mr. Persaud, revoking the appointment and advising that the Executive had reconsidered.
In addition, Vic Persaud as Protocol Officer is the person mandated to contact recipients of awards, including the award of silk, to inform them of the honour and to congratulate them. On Christmas Eve, he informed me of the honour and congratulated me. On Christmas day, ANUG’s launch was reported in Stabroek News, naming me as co-founder. The following Sunday, five days later, Mr. Persaud called me for the second time to advise that the Executive had reconsidered my appointment.
Mr. Williams calls this coincidence.
He seeks instead to explain the removal of my name by introducing the novel concept that only lawyers with 30 years or more were being considered. It does not appear that this policy was communicated to the Chancellor before she sent her List. It also is unclear when the policy was adopted, since President Burnham, President Hoyte, Ian Chang, Ralph Ramkarran, and Chief Justice Roxane George were all appointed to silk with far less than thirty years at the Bar. It is strange that the Executive approved my name and instructed Mr. Persaud to communicate their approval before belatedly remembering this new policy.
The sound of truth carries a distinctive ring. One does not often hear that decibel in pronouncements by our political leaders, and the ring of truth was conspicuously absent in this latest tale by the Hon. Attorney- General, Mr. Basil Williams, Senior Counsel.
Yours faithfully,
Timothy Jonas
