Judicial Service Commission will be appointed “shortly” – Ali

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 April 2023, 20:53 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday once again sought to reassure Guyanese that the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) will be appointed “shortly” but did not give a specific time frame.

“That I can tell you is coming very quickly,” he said but declined to say whether the time frame would be in two or three months, when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

He explained that government has to appoint the Public Service Commission whose chairman has to be an ex-officio member of the JSC.

He noted that the Senior Staff Association has submitted its nominee to the National Assembly and “I’m now in the process of submitting the additional names that are required of me” in keeping with Guyana’s Constitution for the full composition of the Public Service Commission. “When that is done, the completion of the Judicial Service Commission,” he said.

Later Wednesday, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said on his Social Media programme, Issues In The News, that two names were approved by the bipartisan parliamentary appointments committee to constitute the Public Service Commission and that now cleared the way for President Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton to hold consultations for three members and one member who the President would select.

“Once that Commission is established, the Judicial Service Commission is automatically established because the names of the Judicial Service have already been identified,” he said.  The JSC includes the Chancellor and Chief Justice, the ex-officio member from the Police Service Commission and another person who the President would appoint in his own deliberate judgement.

Mr Nandlall reminded that the High Court has ruled that the full complement of those commissions must be appointed.