Attorney General in conflict of interest as GECOM’s legal adviser- AFC Leader

Last Updated on Sunday, 8 June 2025, 12:10 by Writer

The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday appealed to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to urgently appoint an “independent” legal adviser because it is untenable for the Attorney General to advise the seven-member body as he has political interests to serve.

“We therefore urge the Commission to immediately reconsider this development and appoint a legal adviser whose independence is beyond question. That individual must be professionally qualified, non-partisan, and committed to upholding the principles of fairness and transparency upon which our democratic process depends,” AFC Leader Nigel Hughes said in his letter to GECOM Chairman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh.

Attorney-at-Law Kurt Da Silva’s contract as Legal Adviser was not renewed because the Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud had denounced his legal submissions on behalf of GECOM in an opposition case concerning residency of voters. Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who had openly criticised Mr Da Silva in and out of the courtroom, succeeded in convincing Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire that residency was not a requirement for being registered.

Within the past two weeks Mr Nandlall had advised GECOM on a number of issues that were before the seven-member body, but the AFC Leader said it was “disturbed by indications” that the Attorney General was expected to do so on legal matters concerning the conduct of the 2025 National and Regional Elections.

“Against this backdrop, the insertion of the Attorney General—whose partisan affiliations and public political commentary are well documented—into the advisory framework of GECOM raises serious issues of conflict of interest. The role of legal adviser to GECOM requires not only legal competence but unimpeachable neutrality. It cannot be reconciled with a concurrent role as the chief legal officer of the Executive,” Mr Hughes, also a prominent civil and criminal lawyer, told the GECOM Chairman in his letter that was released to the media.

Mr Nandlall is also an executive member of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

Citing the need for every aspect of the process reflects the highest standards of transparency, impartiality, and public confidence, the AFC Leader said the Attorney General’s visible political activism on behalf of the ruling party, including frequent appearances on “Issues in the News” where he routinely disparages political opponents, further compounds the problem. “No credible democracy can expect public trust in its elections if its supposedly independent elections body is seen to be guided—legally or otherwise—by a politically aligned figure,” Mr Hughes added.

“Furthermore, the dual role of the Attorney General—simultaneously serving the interests of the Executive and now, it appears, advising the Commission—creates an unacceptable conflict that undermines the constitutional mandate of GECOM as an independent institution,” he also stated.