Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:02 by GxMedia
Leader of the Opposition David Granger has accused Attorney General Anil Nandlall of misleading the public with his statement that no reason has been offered for the non-support of the confirmation of the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice.
Nandlall at a PPP press conference on Monday told reporters that President Donald Ramotar opened talks with Granger soon after assuming office since the constitution requires the opposition leader’s support for the appointments.
“The fact is that no reason has yet been advanced by the Leader of the Opposition to suggest why these office holders ought not to be confirmed. The government’s position, which the party supports, is that they have served with distinction,” Nandlall said.
But at a briefing called on Tuesday Granger said the AG’s contention was false since he had indicated to President Ramotar his conditions for the substantive appointments since a March 6, 2013 meeting.
“I asked the president to provide the curriculum vitae of the nominees and also, to assure the people of Guyana that the best person would be appointed to the position of Chancellor, to advertise in the Eastern Caribbean where other jurisdictions share our laws.
He did not indicate whether or not he would agree to that measure but I would like to point out that we were not opposed to any particular name, in fact we did not discuss the names, what we discussed was the modalities that would be used to select the next Chancellor of the Judiciary,” Granger said.
He added that he believed that the people would prefer to have a Chancellor nominated by a transparent process rather than one selected by a “deal” between the two sides.
The opposition leader noted that Nandlall was not at that meeting with Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon being the only other government representative. He added that he had written the president requesting that Nandlall’s comments be withdrawn.
“The statement alleged to be made by the Attorney General to the effect that I said no and I advanced no reason is a lie; I advanced very clear reasons why the process initiated by the president should be taken to another stage.”
Justices Carl Singh and Ian Chang have been acting as Chancellor and Chief Justice respectively for some eight years now.
“Let us go for the best and if it turns out that Justices Singh and Chang are the best then so be it but let us embark on a process that the Guyanese public is satisfied with,” Granger stated.
