Appointment of Justice Patterson should be quashed

Dear Editor,
Lying on one’s CV about one’s employment history is a cardinal sin, especially from a person who is supposed to embody the qualities of honesty, integrity and impartiality. This has now been excused by Justice Patterson as ‘a slip of the pen’.
The Grenada Newsletter dated June 13, 1987 indicated that Justice Patterson was the Chief Justice in the Maurice Bishop case whereby 17 persons were convicted. The question before him then was the status of the Grenada Supreme Court. It would seem that he acted as Chief Justice is this single instance. However, this should have been stated in his resume. The CV should have indicated the period of employment and the fact whether he was acting or not in that capacity. The President should have questioned this omission; it is a grave error for Justice Patterson to simply state the he was the Chief Justice of Grenada. Furthermore, is it not strange that the newly appointed Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman could not recall when and for how long he was the acting Chief Justice? How could he fail to recall such a high profile case, as Maurice Bishop’s case?
Furthermore, when Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo submitted the lists, the President would normally take weeks to ‘study’ the various CVs, but in this instance he just took a few hours to find that Justice Patterson was ‘fit and proper’ for the job. Why this insane haste to appoint and swear in Justice Patterson? Does it not seem as though the President already made his decision and the submission of the CV a mere formality?
If a man is suffering from amnesia and cannot write a proper resume, is he ‘fit and proper’ to be the Chairman of GECOM? Therefore, this is not only about the unconstitutionality of the appointment but about a false CV.
Two weeks after his appointment, Justice Patterson wants us to believe that his pen slipped. No his pen did not slip, it failed to write the fact that he acted as Chief Justice. He cannot even find a ‘fit and proper’ excuse. Is there a guarantee that his pen will not ‘slip’ during his tenure as the Chairman for GECOM?
In conclusion, the appointment of Justice Patterson should be quashed or Justice Patterson on his own volition should do the honourable thing and resign immediately!

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
RDC Councillor,
Region Six