Dear Editor,
A lot has been said about President David Granger’s decision to appoint an 84-year-old retired Justice and Reverend James Patterson. I would like to say that, in all my reading, there are three points that cannot be forgotten.
One, the President moved away from the Carter Formula and over two decades of procedure, which was even followed by the last People’s National Congress (PNC) leader who held high office.
The second point is that, as a people, Guyanese cannot continue to tolerate the attempt to make this matter, a matter of race. The Constitution was breached, plain and simple. As an Opposition Leader, the late PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte, nominated the Indo-Guyanese who were then chosen to be the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) chairpersons. When the PNC held the presidency, it was the late, Dr Cheddi Jagan, who nominated an Afro-Guyanese, Rudi Collins, who was appointed by Hoyte. In the lists submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, we see both Indo and Afro-Guyanese included. If the President really wanted an Afro-Guyanese to lead GECOM, such as people including David Hinds have said, then why not appoint the Afro-Guyanese nominated by Jagdeo?
Thirdly, the new GECOM Chairman is now faced by serious questions about whether he will act fairly and whether he lied on his resume. Till now, it cannot be confirmed that he acted as Chief Justice of Grenada in 1987. Till now, he has not said that he was not a pallbearer at the funeral of Hoyte. Till now, he has not said that he was not part of the rally around the PNC group.
These three are the matters that we must focus on – the President broke procedure, he breached the Constitution and Patterson may not be ‘fit and proper’ to serve as the GECOM Chairman.
Guyana is a growing and developing democracy. We cannot afford mistakes that will set us back.
Yours truly,
Baldeo Mathura
