The judiciary, along with the executive and legislature, is one of the three constitutional pillars of the state. But the two most important positions in the judiciary, the Chancellor and Chief Justice, have been held under acting appointments for approximately two decades. The last confirmed Chief Justice was Desiree Bernard from 1996 to 2001 and last confirmed Chancellor was the said Desiree Bernard from 2001 to 2005.
These positions were held under acting appointments since those times by Carl Singh, Ian Chang, Yonette Cummings and Roxane George. This situation is so unsatisfactory that on two occasions in the past two Presidents of the CCJ have called for the appointments of the Chancellor and Chief Justice. In November 2017 Sir Denis Byron, the then President of the CCJ, in an address to the Guyana Bar Association, called for the acting appointments to these positions to be confirmed. He underlined the grave dangers to judicial independence arising from the failure to confirm the appointments of Carl Singh and Ian Chang. Current President of the CCJ Adrian Saunders has also called for the confirmation of the appointments to these positions.
