“We all know now transparently how this thing must wuk” – Timothy Jonas

“We all know now transparently how this thing must wuk” Senior Counsel Timothy Jonas told the media on Thursday afternoon minutes after he was conferred with silk and hours after a High Court judge ruled that the President has the power to appoint Senior Counsel.

Jonas had challenged the move appoint four senior counsels in January by former President David Granger and today the lawyer said that his challenge was not an attack on the four lawyers who were named, “what happened for five years, we saw some amount of arbitrariness, lack of transparency in what was done,” Jonas told the press, “so after my experience in January 2019, I decided that the next go round I will make an approach to the court to challenge the process so the court could pronounce on what the process should be,” he said.

After today’s ruling, there was some uncertainty as to whether Jonas would be present at the event held at State House which saw two other lawyers including Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Jamela Ali being conferred with silk, but Jonas said that he gave President Irfaan Ali a commitment that depending on the outcome of the court matter, he will act accordingly.

Today, Justice Nareshwar Harnanan in his ruling pointed to the need to discuss reform to address the issue of such appointments. When asked about this, Jonas said that he such is needed as he described some of the previous conferrals as surprises, “good people have been over looked before, that mustn’t happen, he said, “Nigel Hughes should be here, he is not here, that shouldn’t happen, at long last there is a predictability in the process, we need to ensure that it is transparent enough that no one is surprised when they see how turns up to the party,” Jonas said.

Jonas is suggesting that a committee of seven inclusive of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Chief Justice, a judge, the Attorney General and three lawyers could vet such applications for appointments, “let them agree who to invite, to apply, by majority, in a secret meeting, let them decide and make that proposal to the president,” he posited.

In January, President Granger appointed four lawyers Senior Counsel, Stanley Moore, Roysdale Forde Jamela Ali and Mursaline Bacchus.