Constitutional Reform Commission: High Court tosses out trade unionists’ bid to block labour appointment

The High Court has dismissed a challenge brought by two trade unionists seeking to overturn the appointment of the labour representative on the Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC).
Filed through their lawyer, Roysdale Forde, Second Vice President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Julian Cambridge, and General Secretary of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Kempton Alexander, had objected to the trade union’s representative on the CRC, Aslim Singh, who is a member of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
Cambridge and Alexander had asked the High Court to issue several declarations, including one that “the failure to engage in any consultation with the constituent Labour Unions, which in Guyana constitute the Labour Movement as referred to in Section Four of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022, renders the said Constitution Reform Commission not lawfully and validly constituted.”
They also asked the High Court to rule that President Dr Irfaan Ali’s appointment of Singh as the CRC labour representative has breached Guyana’s Constitution because there was no consultation as envisaged and provided for in the Preamble to the Constitution of Guyana, Article 13 of the Constitution of Guyana, and the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022, and is procedurally irrational, null, void and of no legal effect.
They also wanted the High Court to issue an order directing the CRC not to act or engage in any of the functions, duties and obligations conferred on it until a nominee representing the Labour Movement is appointed in accordance with Section Four of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 after consultations with the labour unions constituting the Labour Movement.
Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, who was listed as a respondent in the matter, on Tuesday evening revealed that the case was dismissed by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Roxane George, who previously served as acting Chief Justice.
“We led evidence to show that we consulted with FITUG, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, which is the largest umbrella body of trade unions in the country. We consulted the largest Christian organisations in the country to get a Christian nominee. We consulted the largest Hindu organisations in the country to get a Hindu nominee. We consulted the largest Muslim organisations to get a Muslim nominee. But we didn’t consult every single organisation representing Hinduism or every single organisation representing Christianity or every single organisation representing Islam. In the same way, we didn’t consult every single union in the country and nothing is wrong with that. The law never, the Constitutional Reform Commission Act, never mandated the President or the Attorney General to consult with every single organisation representing a particular cause in Guyana, or else the consultation would never done. The consultation would have never been completed,” Nandlall asserted.
“When would I have finished consulting to appoint a commission?”

Frivolities
According to the AG, “These are the frivolities that are being filed in the court system.”
The members of the CRC include: Nandlall along with Ministers Gail Teixeira, Dr Frank Anthony, Pauline Sukhai, and Kwame McCoy for the PPP/C Government; Vincent Alexander, Sherwood Lowe, Ganesh Mahipal and previously Nigel Hughes (who has since resigned) for the then APNU+AFC Opposition; while Timothy Jonas was the other political appointee, representing the joinder parties that held a seat in the last National Assembly; Labour Movement Representative Aslim Singh, National Toshaos Council Representative Derrick John, Private Sector Representative Ramesh Persaud, Women’s Representative Kim Kyte-Thomas, Youth Representative Dr Josh Kanhai, Muslim Representative Imran Ally, Hindu Representative Radha Krishna Sharma, Christian Representative Keoma Griffith, Farmers’ Representative Adrian Anamayah, and the Guyana Bar Association Representative Kamal Ramkarran. Provisions were also made for the President to appoint a Chairman of the Commission, and former acting Chancellor of the Judiciary (Ret’d) Justice Carl Singh was selected to head the body.
However, AG Nandlall had previously revealed that his office has already drafted amendments to the Constitution Reform Commission Act to change the current composition of the body to reflect the Parliamentary changes stemming from the recent General and Regional Elections.
The Constitution Reform Commission Bill 2022 was first tabled in the House in August 2022 and was subsequently passed in November of that year. After months of consultations and negotiations, President Ali swore in the CRC members in April and May 2024.
The Act sought to establish a commission to review the country’s supreme laws, outlining the key areas that should be considered for potential reforms. These include the fundamental rights of citizens, Indigenous peoples’ rights, rights of children, the eradication of discrimination, enhancement of race relations, promotion of ethnic security and equal opportunity, safeguarding minority rights, electoral reforms, economic, political, and cultural rights, fiduciary responsibility, bolstering integrity in public office, as well as the functioning of the National Assembly and local Government.