President’s CV request fair – Nandlall

GECOM nominees

Former Attorney General and People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) member Anil Nandlall has stated that the request by President David Granger for the Curriculum Vitae (CVs) of the persons nominated by Leader of the Opposition for the position of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is a fair one.
He stated that he is of this opinion although he is aware that some have argued that the qualifications of the persons nominated are well-known locally.
“…one was the President’s boss in the army for over a decade; one lectured to him at university, and another sits on a committee to advise his Government on taxation and is one of its several forensic auditors,” he highlighted, adding that in his view all of the nominees satisfy the Constitutionally laid out requirements.
According to Nandlall, by requesting the CVs the President, he supposes, wants to make a fully informed decision.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Wednesday submitted names of nominees for the post of chairman, which will be left vacant following the retirement of Dr Steve Surujbally at the end of the year.
The nominees are: Lawrence Latchmansingh, Ramesh Dookhoo, Norman Mc Lean, Christopher Ram, Rhyaan Shaw and Professor James Rose. A significant number of the nominees were taken from the list proposed by civil society, he said.
The list was released by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who stated that the names of the six nominees were submitted to President David Granger after consultations with a wide cross-section of civil society organisations, religious organisations, Private Sector and labour unions:
“We believe that all these people have the requisite quality to be a good chairperson of GECOM.”
Last month, the Government announced that it would soon begin the consideration of a new Chairman.
The PPP/Civic has repeatedly called for the resignation of Surujbally in wake of their strong belief that he supervised a rigged electoral process in the 2015 Regional and General Elections.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said President Granger has already received notices from the parliamentary Opposition that it was ready to commence the consideration and selection of a new Chairman of the election body.
Once there is no objection to the names, the Head of State will move ahead with the selection process. Dr Surujbally last month indicated his intention to demit office before the end of the year.
“The important characteristic of the constitutional mechanism for the appointment of the Chairman of GECOM is that it strives to achieve a consensual candidate. That was its intention when it was originally formulated by President Jimmy Carter for the 1992 elections. It was this formula which was later constitutionalised,” Nandlall said on Friday, adding that from 1992 onwards, it achieved this consensual objective since every list of nominees submitted by a PNC Opposition Leader was found acceptable by a PPP/C President who chose one nominee from that first list submitted.
“It is expected that this tradition will continue. If, however, the President rejects this first list, then as Mr Joseph Harmon indicated in the press, another list will have to be submitted until consensus is reached,” he said, noting that this is what he understands the formula was designed to achieve.
Surujbally has already written the Government informing them of his desire to resign and had recommended a raft of measures of reform. He had previously stated that he had the desire to demit office since 2006.
He has been the head of the Commission since 2001.