Public Service Commission soon to be appointed, JSC to follow – Pres Ali

With mounting calls for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to be established, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday said that the Public Service Commission (PSC) will have to be constituted first before the JSC is created.
The Head of State was at the time responding to questions posed during a press conference to wrap up a two-day Cabinet outreach in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
According to President Ali, the composition of the JSC requires the Public Service Commission to be placed. To this end, he announced that they are “finalising the work” of the PSC.
“There are outstanding issues from Parliament and some other agencies to have the Public Service Commission up… [But] I can promise you very, very soon [the PSC will be constituted,” the president posited.
When the PSC is appointed, Ali pointed out “…we’ll then be able to move to the full complement of the Judicial Service Commission… As soon as that is done, the Judicial Service Commission will come in effect and then we move towards the different matters that the Judicial Service Commission has to look at.”
Another key issue within the judiciary is the appointment of a substantive Chancellor and a substantive Chief Justice.
While noting that his government takes this issue seriously, President Ali contended, however, that the country is not without a Chancellor or Chief Justice.
“We have an acting Chancellor and an acting Chief Justice,” he declared.
Justices Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Roxane George, SC have been acting as the Chancellor and Chief Justice, respectively, for several years now.
The procedure for the appointment of the Chancellor and Chief Justice is outlined in Article 127 (1) of the Constitution, which states: “The Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition.”
It has been over 21 and 17 years respectively since Guyana has had a confirmed Chief Justice and Chancellor. The last confirmed Chief Justice was Desiree Bernard, who served from 1996 to 2001; she also served as Chancellor from 2001 to 2005.
When it comes to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Article 198 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana states that the members must be comprised of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, who will be appointed as Chairman, the Chief Justice, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and any other members appointed to the Commission.
There has been no JSC since 2017. The last Commission was appointed by former President Donald Ramotar in September 2014. The tenure of each appointed member is for three years, therefore, the tenure of the last commission expired in September 2017.
Among other things, the function of the JSC is to advise the President on the appointment of Judges, with the exception of the Chancellor and the Chief Justice.
The JSC’s powers include the power to make appointments, to remove and to exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or acting in the following offices – Commissioner of Title, Magistrate, Director of Public Prosecutions, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Registrar of the High Court, Deputy Registrar of the High Court, Registrar of Deeds and Deputy Registrar of Deeds and to such offices connected with the courts or for appointment to which legal qualifications are required as may be prescribed by Parliament.
Only in January, senior officials within the judiciary lamented the shortage of Judges and reiterated calls for the establishment of the JSC.
At the time, there were 11 High Court Judges – one of whom has since retired – and only three Judges in the Court of Appeal.
Justice George had pointed out that the Judiciary is doing the best it can, given the extremely heavy caseload, in particular, among other challenges.
“I do acknowledge that decisions should be given in a timely manner and we are committed to striving to do so… We can and must do better. Of course, we can; of course, we must,” she contended.
The Chief Justice (ag) pointed out that as it is, a civil judge oversees a constant docket of about 200 to 400 cases at any one time throughout the year, managing cases for all three counties. The Judges who are assigned to the criminal jurisdiction, she added, are also assigned some civil matters to assist with the case load.
Justice George further noted that the two Commissioners of Title carry a case load in the thousands for all three counties, while the criminal case load in both the High Court and the Magistrates’ Courts is extremely high.
In addition, all Judges of the High Court also sit at an appellate level to hear Full Court appeals – many of which are filed annually, she stated.
Meanwhile, similar sentiments were expressed by the acting Chancellor, who underscored the need for more Judges to assist in carrying out the mandate of the Judiciary.
She outlined that the complement of Judges has been depleted with the retirements of High Court Judges – Justice Franklin Holder and Justice Brassington Reynolds – in the latter half of 2022.
“Courts exist to do justice and we cannot do justice with machines alone. We need the people and we can only do what we’re required to do if we have the necessary resources… We do not need the rhetoric… We need the Judges. We’ve been hearing, time again, about the JSC soon to be established, we would like to see the implementation and the establishment of the Judicial Service Commission,” Justice Cummings-Edwards had stated.