…US Ambassador says Constitution being followed
…hopeful of consensus in selection of next chair

UNITED STATES Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway has said that the elections management body here is not in crisis and that the constitution is being followed in the selection of a new chairman.

Holloway told this newspaper during an exclusive interview that while a chairman should be named soonest in the interest of the people, there is no crisis situation. “There is a process and it is dictated by law and regulation in Guyana. I think the process is largely being followed,” said the U.S. envoy who made it clear that the matter is subject to interpretation. “I don’t think we are at a crisis point yet,” noted Ambassador Holloway, who stressed that a number of professionals are employed at the Commission and it is for this reason GECOM continues to function. He likened the situation to that of the U.S. Embassy in Guyana being without an Ambassador for 14 months before he was appointed.

“But obviously, having a head is better than not having a head, and I do hope that the President and Mr. Jagdeo meet and reach some sort of a consensus, or make a decision. I think it would be good for the country as a whole,” said Ambassador Holloway in response to questions on the subject. Local Government Election (LGE) is slated for 2018.
The envoy said while the process seems to be taking long to be completed, both the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo and President David Granger have been complying with the Constitutional requirements for the appointment of a GECOM chair. GECOM has been without a chairman since February when former chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, who served for 15 years, retired.

“…to Mr Jagdeo’s credit, he has continued to give lists, three lists [and] the president has considered them. He said he is considering the current list he has on his hand and he wants to talk to Mr Jagdeo, so hopefully the two would be able to figure it out,” Ambassador Holloway stated.

Jagdeo has thus far submitted three lists containing six candidates each to President Granger, two of which have since been rejected by the President. The President is currently reviewing the third list which was submitted to him in late August, and is expected to meet with the Opposition Leader sometime next week. The third list submitted by Jagdeo, comprises former GECOM Chairman, Major General (retired) Joseph Singh; Attorneys Teni Housty and Sanjeev Datadin; businesswoman Annette Arjoon-Martins; Pastor Onesi La Fleur and former Magistrate, Krishendatt Persaud.

PROPOSED MEETING
On Wednesday, the head-of-state told reporters that he looks forward to meeting with the Opposition Leader but could not state when that meeting will be held. “I haven’t set a timeline, I don’t know about Mr. Jagdeo’s availability, but it is a busy week… [But] I look forward to meeting him very soon. I hope next week, if he is available, once he is available.”

Jagdeo, a former president, has said that the absence of a chair at GECOM has resulted in the work of the commission being stalled. The Constitution provides for the appointment of a GECOM chair pursuant to Article 161. Article 161 (2) says “…the Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds, or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth, or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court, or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge, or any other fit and proper person…”

President Granger has repeatedly said that the nominees put to him in the two rejected lists were not found to be fit and proper. Jagdeo’s second list of nominees included: Justice of Appeal, B.S Roy (ret’d); Justice William Ramlal (ret’d); Oneidge Walrond-Allicock, attorney-at-law and a former magistrate; Kashir Khan, attorney-at-law; Nadia Sagar, attorney-at-law and Gerald Gouveia. The first rejected list of nominees included: Governance and Conflict Resolution Specialist, Lawrence Lachmansingh; Attorney-at-Law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram; Retired Major-General, Norman Mc Lean; Business Executive, Ramesh Dookhoo; Indian Rights Activist, Rhyaan Shah and History Professor, James Rose.

COURT RULING
Meanwhile, businessman Marcel Gaskin had approached the High Court to interpret Article 161 of the Constitution, which resulted in Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire confirming that the President acting on his own deliberate judgment must determine whether a person is ‘fit and proper’.

Gaskin questioned whether the list of persons for appointment as GECOM Chair to be submitted by Jagdeo must include a judge, former judge or person qualified to be a judge. The President is required under the constitution to state reasons for deeming each of the six names on the list as unacceptable; the President is obliged to select a person from the six names on the list, unless he has determined positively that the persons are unacceptable as fit and proper for appointment, and whether a finding of act by the president that one or more persons on the list is not fit and proper renders the entire list as unacceptable.

Justice George- Wiltshire ruled that persons nominated to be selected as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) do not have to be judges, former judges or persons qualified to serve as a judge. Also in her ruling, the Chief Justice advised that there is no legal requirement for the President to state reasons for rejecting a list, though it is her belief, that in the furtherance of democracy and good governance, he should, since Article 161 (2) speaks to the need for dialogue and compromise.

On Wednesday, the President said he is studying the “opinion of the Chief Justice (ag) and its implications for the decisions he is to make. “It was quite clear that among everything she has written, she has not interfered with the President’s right guaranteed by the Constitution to select a person who is fit and proper. And I think in that regard, I will continue to do what the Constitution calls upon me to do, select a person who is fit and proper,” President Granger told reporters. He added: “Nothing the chief justice wrote has prevented me or inhibited my exercise of that authority or that power.”

The Constitution states too, that if the Opposition Leader fails to submit a list as provided for, the President can appoint a person who holds or has held office as a judge, or a person who is qualified to be appointed as a judge.    

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