Govt, Opposition legal minds to determine constitutional requirement – Granger

GECOM chairmanship

president David Granger is of the view that the impending meeting between representatives of Government and the Opposition will provide legal clarification on the constitutional requirements for the appointment of a Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

During the taping of this week’s “The Public Interest” programme on Thursday, the Head of State pointed out that having legal minds from the two sides examine and interpret the Constitution was the quickest route to bring a “swift” conclusion to the issue, which he noted has been going on for too long.

“At this point in time, I feel it’s purely constitutional, it’s purely legal and I think the shortest course, the best course, would be for legal minds to engage the issue. So, I don’t feel a non-lawyer like myself should engage a non-lawyer like the Leader of the Opposition, because there may be further misunderstanding,” the President posited.

In light of the ongoing public disagreement over the requirements for the appointment of a GECOM Chairman between the Head of State and the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, the latter on Wednesday evening accepted an invitation from the former to have a representative meet with Attorney General Basil Williams on the matter.

The invitation was extended when the Head of State finally wrote Jagdeo in response to a request (by the Opposition Leader) for clarification on his (Granger’s) interpretation of the Constitution of Guyana regarding the appointment of a Chairperson of the elections body.

In his letter to Jagdeo, the President proposed that a meeting be held between the Attorney General and a person of the Leader of the Opposition’s choice “in order to avoid further misinterpretation or misunderstanding of this important constitutional matter”.

However, a statement from the Opposition Leader’s office on Wednesday evening outlined that while Jagdeo was disappointed that the President did not provide the clarification sought, he would nevertheless accede to the request and send a representative to the meeting with the Attorney General.

“It is our hope that this engagement will provide the requisite clarity and will move the process closer to an early resolution,” the statement from the Opposition said. However, at the post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman told reporters that a date was yet to be set for that meeting. “…We have not received any indication as to when (Jagdeo) or he and his delegation or his delegation will attend to that meeting,” Trotman related.

The controversy of the different interpretations of the Opposition Leader and the Government on Article 161 (2) of the Guyana Constitution on the appointment of a new GECOM Chairman, stemmed from the President rejecting the initial list of six nominees submitted by Jagdeo to head GECOM.

The relevant section of the Constitution states, “The Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge, or any other fit and proper person, to be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition after meaningful consultation with the non-governmental political parties represented in the National Assembly.”

The Opposition’s understanding conforms to the updated Constitution, which incorporates the Carter Formula to have a democratic process for the appointment of a chairman. The Carter Formula is designed and intended to achieve consensus between Government and the Opposition regarding the appointment of GECOM’s Chairman.

GECOM’s composition was also designed to achieve a certain degree of equilibrium, hence three nominees from the governing party and three from the Opposition, with the Chairman holding a balance of power with a casting vote. However, Granger’s interpretation seems to reflect the old 1980 Constitution, commonly known as the “Burnham Constitution”, which limits the pool of persons to be appointed to GECOM’s helm to only judges or those eligible to be judges. This version of the Constitution also gives the President the power to unilaterally appoint a GECOM Chairman.

AG Williams and Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan had both signalled Government’s intention to activate a clause in the Constitution to allow the President to unilaterally appoint a GECOM Chair.

But the Head of State reiterated on Thursday that he would not end the process until both parties were satisfied with the way forward. “…I would like to choose someone who is acceptable to both sides and who the general public is satisfied with,” he posited, dismissing speculation that he already had a candidate in mind to take up the helm of the elections body.

“I don’t have a candidate in mind. I have a qualification in mind. I want someone who satisfies the constitutional requirement. That is all I want,” he stated.

To this end, President Granger is confident that dialogue between the Attorney General and legal representatives from the Opposition could expedite the resolution of this matter.