President to appoint Senior Counsel, hours after High Court ruling on President’s powers to appoint SC
At 15:00 hrs today, High Court Judge Nareshwar Harnanan will hand down his ruling in the case brought by Attorney-at-Law Timothy Jonas who is challenging the President’s authority to appoint lawyers to the dignity of Silk- Senior Counsel Status. The Judge will deliver his oral judgment via Microsoft Teams. And at 16:30 hours President Irfaan Ali will present three lawyers including Jonas with instruments of appointment. Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Jamela Ali are the other two.
In the case, Jonas is contending that there is no statutory or other power conferred on the President of Guyana to appoint Attorneys-at-Law to Senior Counsel. Jonas is seeking an Order of Certiorari to be directed to Attorney General Anil Nandlall to quash former President David Granger’s appointment of Attorneys-at-Law Roysdale Forde, Mursaline Bacchus, Jamela Ali and Stanley Moore to Senior Counsel.
It is Jonas’ contention that former President Granger acted outside of his authority in making the appointments. As such, he argues that the conferral of Silk on the four Attorneys-at-Law is in violation of the Constitution of Guyana. According to him, the power to elevate lawyers to Senior Counsel lies within the province of the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Anil Nandlall has asked the court to dismissed Jonas’ case because it has no merit. Nandlall argues that the prerogative to appoint Queen’s/King’s Counsel originated with the monarch. In the case of Guyana, he explained that it was exercisable by the Governor, who was the Queen’s representative in British Guiana. Nandlall contended that the powers of the Queen were exercisable by the Governor-General pursuant to the Guyana Independence Ordinance 1966, which powers include the prerogative to appoint Senior Counsel.
In submissions to the court, he noted, “…the common law of England, which included the prerogative of the monarch to confer Silk became the common law of Guyana since 1917 by virtue of the Civil Law of Guyana Act. The Republic Act then captured the, inter alia, prerogatives of the Queen, and vested same in the President of Guyana in 1970.” Nandlall argued, “It is respectfully submitted that the dignity of Silk has become, by evolution of the convention, an honour. If we accept that the dignity of Silk is an honour conferred upon attorneys-at-law as a mark of distinction, then it must be accepted that the President of Guyana, as the fountainhead of honours in Guyana, has the power, or prerogative, to confer Silk as an honour,” the Attorney General noted.
The case filed by Jonas comes one year after Jonas was notified of his Senior Counsel appointment by the then APNU/AFC Government. That notice was not honoured. Jonas publicly said that he believed that his appointment was revoked after he announced his association with A New and United Guyana (ANUG), a new political party formed to contest the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections. Both Nandlall and Jonas were appointed to Senior Counsel status in October 2020, by President Dr Irfaan Ali.
