While stressing that he was committed to fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities, President Irfaan Ali on Friday signaled that he would be willing to engage Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon on the long overdue substantive appointments of top judicial officers.
“I am fully committed to abiding by every aspect of the constitution. There is no precondition to fulfilling my mandate in accordance with the constitution. What I know is that you have a president who will fulfill his constitutional mandate and my constitutional mandate in the appointment of various constitutional office holders will be done in full conformity with the requirements of the constitution. I can assure you this,” Ali told a news conference.
Ali, who also disclosed that the appointment of the members of Judicial Service Commission will be addressed upon his return from the now ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference, has repeatedly said that he would not engage Harmon unless the Opposition Leader first recognises the legitimacy of his administration. His critics have accused Ali of neglecting his responsibilities under the constitution, which requires consultation with no precondition. Harmon has expressed his willingness to meet Ali.
Asked on Friday if he is now prepared to meet Harmon without any preconditions, Ali said he was “very committed” to the constitution and will do everything it requires him to. “…Whatever the constitution requires me to do I will do. I have no hesitation in doing that,” he said.
He added that Harmon appeared to have a “moral” problem in how he will settle on meeting a government which he fails to recognise.
“There is an issue – and that is outside of that mandate in relation to my constitutional role –where you have someone who is continuously saying that this government is illegitimate. So he has a moral problem. How does he explain talking to some government he is claiming is illegitimate? That’s his moral problem and that will expose his duplicity!” Ali said.
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Lenox Shuman recently called on Ali to commence the engagement process with Harmon on the substantive appointments of the Chancellor and Chief Justice.
In a letter to President Ali, dated October 22, 2021 and released to the public, Shuman expressed concern over the continued acting appointments, which he said he hoped to persuade the president to swiftly rectify.
He noted that despite calls for confirmation of the two top legal posts by both previous and current Presidents of the Caribbean Court of Justice—Sir Dennis Byron and Justice Adrian Saunders, respectively—Ali has made no moves toward aiding the appointments.
Shuman urged the president to be guided by his constitutional obligation to engage Harmon in ensuring the appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.
The Deputy Speaker called on President Ali to drop his position of refusing to Harmon because he doesn’t recognize the government as being legitimate.
Shuman reasoned in his letter to Ali that Harmon’s mere acceptance of the role of Opposition Leader, represents his acknowledgement of government’s legitimacy.
Further, Shuman took the opportunity to remind the president of the constitutional requirement for the Court of Appeal to have a substantive Chancellor, and the High Court a Chief Justice even as he lamented the well-over a decade since a Chancellor and Chief Justice have been substantively appointed.
Guyana has not had a substantive Chief Justice since Justice Desiree Bernard was elevated to the post of Chancellor in 2001 and no substantive Chancellor since Justice Bernard stepped down from the bench here in 2005.
Article 127 (1) of the Constitution states that both sides must agree on the nominees before the substantive appointments can be made. “The Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition,” it states.
To this end, Shuman urged Ali to urgently confer with Harmon to secure his agreement for the substantive appointments. “The failure to rectify the omission to fill these positions with substantive appointments means the continuing violation of the spirit and intent of the constitution,” he said.
