New Leader of the People’s National Con-gress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton has appointed former magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond as General Secretary of the Party.
Chandan-Edmond replaces Amna Ally who served in the post from 2017 to 2021. Ally had indicated that she was stepping down from the position. Her decision came in the wake of the PNCR’s 21st Biennial Delegates Congress last month.
In a statement yesterday, the PNCR said that the appointment took effect from January 03, 2022.
“Ms Chandan-Edmond is a Member of Parliament and enjoys the support of the membership of the PNCR as manifest in the election to the Central Executive Committee of the Party. Ms Chandan-Edmond is a lawyer by profession and possesses management skills and good human relations skills that make her suitable to be General Secre-tary of the PNCR,” the brief statement read.
She had served as a legal advisor in the Ministry of Presidency during the APNU+AFC term in office.
Chandan-Edmond is relatively new to political life having only joined politics after she was removed from the magisterial bench in 2015. In February of 2015, Chandan-Edmond was sacked by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) due to absenteeism. However, she has contended that her dismissal was linked to the fact that she presided over the trial of Samuel Hinds Jnr, son of former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, and was due to sentence him after declaring him guilty of unlawful wounding.
On January 15, 2014, the JSC had written to Chandan-Edmond in relation to her absence from a Magistrate’s Association meeting to discuss the Sexual Offences Act, medical leave for two days between the 5th and 7th June 2013, absence for sick leave, failure to report absence of work to the Chancellor, inability to deliver 19 decisions, failure to respond to queries from the Chief Magistrate and departure from Guyana on January 20th, 2013, without approval.
She has 10 years of magisterial experience having served from 2005-2015.
According to her public LinkedIn profile, Chandan-Edmond is a “highly talented, well presented, self-motivated and knowledgeable former Magistrate with over seventeen (17) years of solid legal experience with a demonstrated record of accomplishment of fairness in performing a variety of judicial duties throughout the judicial system in Guyana and with exceptional multi-tasking and organizational skills.”
She completed her initial legal education at the University of Guyana and then went on to Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad where she obtain-ed her certificate in Legal Education and was admitted to the Bar in 2003.
Chandan-Edmond is the current Shadow Minister of Home Affairs for the APNU+AFC Coalition and a first- time Parliamentarian.
