Advertising top judiciary posts out of Guyana ‘a bad idea’– Ramkarran
Monday , October 12 2015, Source
THE A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration should “set aside the bad idea” of advertising in the Caribbean Region for candidates to fill vacant posts of Chief Justice and Chancellor in Guyana where there are qualified Guyanese at home. The assertions from former House Speaker, Ralph Ramkarran, were included in the latest installment of his posts on his blog ‘Conversation Tree’, which is headlined ‘Impending changes in the Judiciary’.
Presently, Ian Chang, whose substantive post is Justice of the Court of Appeal, is the acting Chief Justice. The Acting Chancellor is Carl Singh, who is the substantive Chief Justice.
Former Opposition Leaders, Desmond Hoyte and President Granger, had declined to give their consent to the confirmation of Ian Chang and Carl Singh.
“The result is that they had to be appointed to acting positions where only consultation with, and not the consent of, the Opposition Leader, is required. This state of affairs is widely recognized as being bad for justice and can adversely affect its impartial dispensation. Notwithstanding this unwholesome situation, this issue remains unresolved,” Ramkarran said.
Ramkarran drew attention to the fact that in 1966 the Burnham government bypassed Sir Joseph Luckhoo, the Chief Justice and then head of the judiciary, to appoint Sir Kenneth Stoby, the Guyanese Chief Justice of Barbados, to the newly created post of Chancellor of the Judiciary and president of the newly created Court of Appeal.
“Sir Joseph Luckhoo resigned and later served as President of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica and in other high judicial positions in the Caribbean. Although this event has faded into the past, the administration should take notice and quietly set aside the bad idea of advertising in the Caribbean region for candidates to fill vacant judicial posts in Guyana where there are qualified Guyanese at home,” he said.
Ramkarran contends that there are options for President David Granger to consider.
“(An) option is to appoint a person to the post of Chief Justice and leave the acting Chancellor in situ. It may well be that this was the option that the Attorney General (Basil Williams) was hinting at when he spoke,” the former House Speaker said.
He added, “He referred to the appointment of a Chief Justice and that he had discussed it with the President. If this is the option, the candidates who immediately come to mind are the judges of the Court of Appeal, referred to above, both of whom are eminently qualified. If handled correctly the exercise of this option can set the course of the judiciary on a stable trajectory for the next fifteen years.”
Ramkarran proffered the view that this option creates the possibility that the more than decade long impasse with the confirmation of the appointments of Chancellor and Chief Justice will be eventually resolved.
“If the President chooses this option he will obviously be recommending someone in whom he has confidence and whose appointment he would want to be confirmed by the consent of the Leader of the Opposition,” he said.
On that note, he pointed out that an opportunity therefore exists for the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, to take the high road and consent to the President’s nominee, once the nominee is qualified/
“If the Leader of the Opposition does so, the President should likewise bring to an end the sorry state of affairs where Guyana has had an acting Chancellor for more than a decade and confirm his appointment,” Ramkarran concluded.
