The public outrage which rocked Guyana recently when the nation discovered that President Granger had unilaterally appointed a GECOM Chairman in the person of Retired High Court Judge James Patterson, is quite comprehensible considering that he neither served the people prior notice nor consulted with stakeholders, particularly the Opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC).
Interestingly, the Department of Public Information (DPI) justified the appointment by invoking both the Constitution as well as the ruling previously delivered by Justice George-Wiltshire. However, one would recall that Granger had publicly shrugged off Justice George-Wiltshire’s ruling when she had pronounced on the matter, defending that he would rely on his own interpretation of the Law in moving forward with the controversial GECOM impasse he instigated.
So, if we are to believe the Government’s propaganda, Granger would have been guided by Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, in particular an excerpt which reads: “If the Leader of the Opposition fails to provide a list as provided for, the President shall appoint a person who holds or has held office as a Judge (…)”.
Incidentally, one does not necessarily have to be a trained legal practitioner to understand that the Constitution has been violated on the basis that not less than three (3) lists of eighteen (18) candidates were already submitted by the Opposition Leader since the resignation of Dr Steve Surujbally earlier this year. The Opposition Leader subsequently did not fail to submit a list but instead actively engaged in the selection process, despite each list being consecutively rejected by the President without justification and unreasonably so when one considers that the candidates represented diversity on all levels.
Evidently, Granger knew he was infringing on our constitutional rights (again!) which is most likely the reason why he appointed Patterson and then immediately had him sworn-in before breaking the news to the nation on October 19th.
This is the same man who campaigned in 2015 for a united Guyana. Yet, by his unabashed refusal to abide by the Constitution he has deliberately shattered all expectations and hopes for a system of inclusive governance through which the Guyanese electorate can be equally represented. He has demonstrated immense lack of political will for cooperation and continues to stymie the development of democratically sound institutions.
Moreover, by appointing a chairman who in 2020 will be eighty-seven (87) years old, President Granger has gone against his very own definition of what “fit and proper” should be. One would recall that in February 2017, Justice Kennard at the time eighty (80) years old, was removed from his position of Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) because of his age. President Granger had at the time justified this decision by stating to the media that “the Government is focused on creating an atmosphere in which other persons, who are younger, are able to take the lead”. Patterson is almost a decade older than Kennard. But perhaps this is Granger’s definition of “greening” GECOM.
The President’s behaviour befits one of a bully who will settle for nothing less than what he wants irrespective of the law, the obligations and duties of his office, and professional ethics. This is a man whose military background, taste for historical revisionism and idolatry for a dead dictator, seem to cement his resolve to maintain a firm grip on power. His decision to install Patterson has rendered palpable the fear that the PNC might revert to old methods of electoral fraud and rigging embedded in the burnhamite DNA.
One would hope that civil society might be able to unite in the face of such a gross violation of our constitutional rights. But when organisations such as ACDA take the podium to defend the unconstitutional appointment of Patterson by accusing the Opposition of not wanting an Afro-Guyanese to head GECOM, instead of admitting that it does not support the appointment of a non-PNC or apolitical person irrespective of ethnicity, one can venture that the Government’s chief xenophobe advisor Eric Phillips was summoned to whip up a diversion from the assault on democracy.
Unfortunately, one cannot expect ACDA to actually exert its mandate without heinous ethnic bias when under the leadership of Eric Phillips and by extent, the influence of the Government itself. By taking such an irrational stance, ACDA and the other organisations that joined the racist bandwagon, have chosen to contribute to the decay of democracy in Guyana, instead of barricading against it.
A sad day for Guyana and civil society indeed.
