Opposition Leader has no part in selection of Chancellor and Chief Justice - HPS
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon today explained that the position taken by the Leader of the Opposition, David Granger that he should be part of the selection process for the Chancellor of the Judiciary, and the Chief Justice is through Granger’s own interpretation of the clause contained in Article 127 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana which speaks to the President being the authority appointing persons for these two posts.
The HPS was at the time hosting the post-Cabinet media briefing following two consecutive statutory meetings of Cabinet on Thursday, April 30 and Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
“The Leader of the Opposition, in his own interpretation, of the necessary agreement with the President on the appointment, has gone further and said: it is not only I have to agree with the President, I think I have to have an input into how the President arrives at the decision he is bringing to me,” the HPS said.
Dr. Luncheon stated that this is clearly “inconsistent with the Constitutional provision. The president will appoint, the Leader of the Opposition has to agree. How he has taken that straightforward, rather dogmatic statement to mean that ‘I have to be part of the process of selection, out of which you and I will make a joint appointment’ or something of that nature, is what escapes us.”
The HPS emphasised that during his engagement with the Opposition Leader, the President has not allowed that confusion to be maintained as, and “The President has made it quite clear that he was not going in that direction. This is the model, and I am proposing the confirmation of these two notable judges who have been acting for six to ten years as the top most judges in the judiciary in Guyana. Do you agree or not?”
Dr. Luncheon however, posited that the two differing positions may not be easily reconciled. He pointed out that the matter is usually addressed in the issuing of a joint statement reflecting what took place during the engagement.
In disclosing what occurred, the HPS explained that while the President had indicated his extreme unhappiness with the current situation of the Chancellor and Chief Justice acting for so long (six to ten years), he had sought the input of the Leader of the Opposition in confirming the appointments.
“The leader of the Opposition was unprepared to so do, and threw out to the President a different approach.” His offer as an alternative included going out into the public to solicit interested parties for appointment as Chancellor and Chief Justice in Guyana.
While the President has made known his grave concerns and signalled his intention of not doing so, he also solicited the understanding of the Opposition Leader on his decision.
Dr. Luncheon said however, “My recollection was the Leader of the Opposition was insistent in not agreeing to the appointment of the two officers, and putting back on the table this process of invited applications…and by some process in evaluating applications. I am not certain if we are in possession of some model by the Leader of the Opposition of how this would work, in having an evaluative mechanism put in place, the result of which I assume the Leader of the Opposition would assume to be binding.”
The HPS reiterated that constitutionally, there is no defined process that involves the Leader of the Opposition other than agreeing with or not agreeing with the President’s nominee(s).
