Bar Association again calls for substantive Chancellor, Chief Justice appointments.

With there being no confirmed appointments in the offices of the Chancellor of the Judiciary and the Chief Justice for over a decade, President of the Guyana Bar Association Paul Chase has again called for the regrettable situation to be remedied as soon as possible.

The Attorney-at-Law made the call on Friday while delivering remarks at the Bar Association’s Law Week Symposium which was held under the theme “New Frontiers in Law, Preparing for the Future”, at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC).

Pauline Chase, Attorney-at-Law

While alluding to commitments by the government to reconstitute the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which has been defunct since 2017, Chase said, “In whatever era, whether past, present or future, an efficient system of justice is imperative in a society. Together with administrative trimmings, there must be a sufficient quorum of judges as dictated by sound statistical and empirical analysis to dispense justice in a timely manner.”

The JSC is a very important constitutional body that deals with the appointments of judicial officers, with the exception of the Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice who are appointed by the President after obtaining agreement from the Opposition Leader.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, has said that the constitutional formula for making appointments to these two top judicial posts has not worked in the over two decades since it was put in place, hinting at the need for constitutional reform.

Guyana’s last confirmed Chief Justice was in the person of Dr Désirée Patricia Bernard, who served from 1996 to 2001. She then went on to hold the post of substantive Chancellor and Head of the Judiciary from 2001 to 2005.

Currently, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice Roxane George, SC, are performing the duties of Chancellor and Chief Justice respectively. They have been acting in their respective posts for more than five years.

In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, April 26, High Court Judge Damone Younge called on President Dr Irfaan Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton to act with “all convenient speed” to make permanent appointments to the posts of Chancellor and Chief Justice.

“The parties [President and Opposition Leader] have a mandatory obligation to comply with the provisions of the Constitution to make these appointments. This requires active engagement, mutuality, and sincere receptivity by constitutional actors. While the Constitution does not give time limits as to when this process must begin or end, it is expected that even without the court’s intervention, the President and the Opposition Leader would act with some expedition to bring this impasse to a swift end,” she held.

Guyana’s inability to appoint a permanent Chancellor and Chief Justice for an extended period has been a cause for concern by the country’s highest court, the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO) and the Bar Association of Guyana.

For decades, the President and the main Opposition have been unable to reach an agreement in relation to these two particular judicial appointments.

With Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, on retirement leave ahead of her retirement on May 15, Guyana now has an acting Chief Magistrate in the person of Sherdel-Isaacs Marcus. Marcus-Isaacs’s substantive post is Principal Magistrate. A substantive Chief Magistrate can only be appointed when the JSC is in place.

Last week, the National Assembly passed the Court of Appeal (Amendment) Bill, which, once assented to by President Dr Irfaan Ali, will see an increase in the complement of Court of Appeal Judges. The Kingston, Georgetown appellate court will now have not less than five and not more than nine Justices of Appeal.