Justice must never be tied to political affiliation – Justice Sewnarine-Beharry

…cites former Chancellor in maiden COA ruling

High Court Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry adjudicated her maiden case in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday while drawing inspiration from former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Madam Desiree Bernard.

Justice Sewnarine-Beharry delivered her judgment in the Misenga Jones v GECOM et al appeal, in which she dismissed the application and upheld the July 20 ruling of acting Chief Justice Roxane George.
Jones had approached the High Court for judicial review, seeking to compel the Guyana Elections Commission to use the declarations of the 10 Returning Officers – inclusive of the fraudulent figures of embattled Returning Officer for District Four (Demerara–Mahaica) Clairmont Mingo.
That was ultimately dismissed by the CJ, causing Jones, through her attorneys, Trinidadian Senior Counsel John Jeremie, APNU/AFC Candidate Roysdale Forde, Keith Scotland, Mayo Robertson and Rondelle Keller – to approach the Court of Appeal to have the ruling overturned, which was unsuccessful.
However, the recent series of legal proceedings regarding the protracted electoral process has resulted in many judicial officers coming under attack, mainly by supporters and members of the APNU/AFC Coalition.
Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, after delivering her maiden appellate judgement, said: “It is a notorious fact that hostile and volatile conditions pervade the elections season in Guyana, more so when cases surrounding the elections are dealt with by the courts.”
The High Court judge found it apt to echo the words of Chancellor Bernard, who had said that justice should never be tied to political considerations.
Justice Sewnarine-Beharry read the following quote from Chancellor Bernard: “It is incumbent on me to stress that, at all times, respect for our courts and orders emanating therefrom must be maintained, whether rightly or wrongly made. Judges strive to dispense justice under severe pressures and less-than-favourable conditions. Very often they make decisions which are not always popular. It is one of the occupational hazards, and we learn to live with it, provided always that we know that we have decided fairly and in accordance with the law.
“However, we hope — and I trust that I speak for all members of the judiciary — that we do not have to carry the additional burden of political pressure from any other quarter. We are here to dispense justice fairly and to hold the scales evenly. To put it simply, if the law is on your side, regardless of the identity of the litigant, you will win. If the law and judicial precedence is against you, will lose.
“Justice must never be tied to political considerations and affiliations if we, as a democratic nation, believe in the separation of powers; that is: the Executive, Legislative and the Judiciary. The independence of the judiciary must be maintained at all times.”
Justice Bernard had made this statement during her judgement in the 1996-98 Aubrey Norton case.
Recently, stakeholders, including the Guyana Bar Association, have had to come out against politically motivated attacks made on the Judiciary, attorneys-at-law, and persons in the lawful exercise of their profession and duties.
“Over the past four months, judges presiding over matters touching and concerning the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections have been subjected to distasteful unrelenting personal and other attacks, which not only bring them into odium, but also serve the undesired result of undermining public confidence in our judicial system.”
Recently, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry became the target of racial attacks which began when it was announced that she was joining the appellate bench to preside over Jones’s appeal.
The Bar Association had cause to “condemn recent inflammatory, malicious and racially-charged statements made over the past two days through various forms of media, targeted again at the Court of Appeal in yet another pending election matter”. The Guyana Bar has said it “denounces and objects to any member of the Judiciary being subjected to scurrilous, disrespectful, racial and indecent attacks, which do or have the tendency to scandalise or lower the authority of any court.”
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh, and her attorney in these litigations, Kim Kyte-Thomas, were also faced with attacks.
The attacks against Justice Singh started since March, as the post-elections events unfolded.
In fact, back in April, she had reported to the Police Force a death threat made on her life, and subsequently told reporters there was a bounty on her head since Friday, April 17, 2020.
More recently, however, the attacks have escalated following her decision to discard the initial declarations of the 10 Returning Officers and use the figures emanating from the National Recount for the final declaration of the elections’ results.
A 27-year-old man, Ryan Williams of Silver City, Wismar, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) has been charged under the Cybercrime Act and placed on $500,000 bail for threatening to kill the GECOM Chair in a Facebook post last week.
The post, which was made under a fake profile, was traced back to the person who made it.
Meanwhile, even more disturbing is a video on social media showing persons conducting a makeshift funeral with a doll which they claim represents the GECOM Chair. These attacks have prompted United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, to also condemn the acts against Justice Singh. (G2)