Courts

An Afro-Guyanese former policewoman plans will be mounting a legal challenge against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decision to withdraw a private criminal charge of inciting racial hostility that she had filed against Indo-Guyanese Attorney-at-Law Nirvan Singh. Shawnette Bollers’ lawyer, Eusi Anderson, said the DPP should  have allowed the Magistrate Court to decide the fate of Mr. Singh. He ...

People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) executive member, Christopher Jones has asked the High Court to find that the appointment of Assistant Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken as acting Police Commissioner is unconstitutional. Instead, Mr. Jones said that the qualification to perform the duties of Commissioner of Police is the next most senior officer and that person should be Deputy Police Commissioner ...

A policewoman has filed a private criminal charge under Guyana’s Racial Hostility Law. Woman Constable Shawnette Bollers, who is an Afro-Guyanese, filed the charge against Indo-Guyanese lawyer, Nirvan Singh. Chief Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan granted the lawyer $100,000 bail and ordered that he return to court next month. Particulars of the charge state that on March 20, he excited or ...

The civil society pro-participatory governance organisation, Article 13, said the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings and acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire should be confirmed because they have performed creditably. “They have obviously been in the system for years and years. Over the time, they would have given some excellent decisions. They would have given some decisions that were ...

Attorney General Anil Nandlall is backing calls by the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) for a change in the constitutional method for the appointment of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice due to years of refusal by successive Opposition Leaders to approve the President’s choices. Noting that the constitutional reform process has started, he stayed clear of suggesting what the new ...

Attorney General Anil Nandlall on Tuesday said Article 13 of Guyana’s constitution, whose objective is for Guyanese to participate in making decisions that directly affect their well-being , cannot be enforced and there is no law compelling the government to consult anyone. “In my view, and perhaps now we will have it determined, in my view Article 13 is not ...

The Guyana Bar Association (GBA) on Tuesday recommended that the procedure for appointing a Chancellor and Chief Justice be changed after decades-old failure by the opposition and the government to reach consensus on appointing substantive office holders since 2005. GBA President, Attorney-at-Law Pauline Chase said the time has come to find better approach to appoint those two top judicial officers. ...

Opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change Chief Whip, Christopher Jones and trade unionist Norris Witter are challenging the constitutionality of the Natural Resource Fund legislation since they believe it was not properly passed by the National Assembly due to the absence of the mace and a lack of consultation. The High Court is being asked to order that ...

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Tuesday ruled that Guyana’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) could not unilaterally order a Magistrate to conduct another preliminary inquiry but must instead ask the High Court to decide. In a unanimous decision that saw murder-accused Guyana-born American Marcus Bisram being a free man unless there is fresh evidence for the DPP to ...

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday recommended that representatives of the judiciary and the Guyana Police Force discuss problems and find solutions and cost them. “I want to propose that we have a strategic session because the judiciary can also help us to identify areas of weakness and we can also raise concerns so unless we can come in a room, ...