Ali shrugs off criticisms of Teaching Service Commission appointments without Opposition Leader

Last Updated on Wednesday, 31 December 2025, 21:03 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that the appointment and swearing in of the seven-member Teaching Service Commission (TSC) is unconstitutional although there is no opposition leader to consult on the appointment of three persons.

“The work of the government must continue. The work of the Constitution must continue,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News whether he should not have awaited the election of an opposition leader.

“It’s an important constitutional responsibility that has to be executed,” he also said.

Dr Ali said when there is an opposition leader, “the President will fulfill his responsibility in accordance with Guyana’s Constitution.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir is yet to call a meeting of opposition members of parliament (MPs) to elect leader of the 16-seat We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohamed, as Guyana’s main Opposition Leader.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall has already stated the appointment of Mr Mohamed, wanted by the United States for financial crimes, would be a stain on the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, APNU MP Ganesh Mahipaul said the absence of a leader of the opposition is not the fault of the 29 opposition MPs. “It is the direct consequence of the actions of the Speaker of the National Assembly, himself the choice of the Irfaan Ali administration.”

“This is precisely the kind of constitutional erosion we in the APNU have been warning about. A maturing dictatorship unfolding before our eyes, fed and sustained by none other than President Irfaan Ali. The PPP/C continues to distract the country and the international community with optics, while simultaneously showing disrespect for, and disregard of, the constitutional guardrails of our democracy,” Mr Mahipaul added.

He also criticised the international community for its silence on such constitutional transgressions. “What is even more troubling is the silence of the international community, which is too often seen wining and dining within the very optic illusion created for them.”

Dr Ali said Minister of Education Sonia Parag explained to him the importance of having the TSC in place, and he did not want a new school term to start without that body being constituted to make important decisions to improve the quality of teaching and give teachers more opportunities.

Five months ago, then Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire ruled that the substantive appointment of a police commissioner was constitutional out of necessity although there was no opposition leader at that time.

The State, in a case brought by an opposition member, had argued that it was necessary to have a substantive police commissioner in place to manage the country’s security.

When President Ali was quizzed on whether he could have waited until (“he”) the opposition leader is in place, the Guyanese leader remarked: “I don’t know that the opposition leader will be a ‘he’ or a ‘she’. You’re assuming that the opposition leader will be a ‘he’. I think that’s a very big assumption.”

He said that decision would all depend on a vote by MPs.

The TSC members are Chairman Doodmattie Singh, Shafiran Bhajan, Joan Davis-Monkhouse, Lancelot Baptiste, Satti Jaisierisingh, Mayda Persaud and Chief Education Officer Saddam-Hussain.

Guyana’s Constitution requires the President to appoint three persons after “meaningful consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.”

In his remarks, the President said, “Crucially, in the exercises of its function, the Teaching Service Commission, is not subject to political directives or control. This independence is not incidental. It is central to the purpose for which the Commission was created. The framers of the Constitution intended to insulate appointments, promotions and disciplinary processes within the teaching service from direct political influence.”

In his remarks to the new TSC, he said there are 2,700 senior vacancies, which were created by his government to ensure a higher quality of holistic education, to be filled. He also said several new positions have been created to facilitate the faster upward mobility of teachers. “As you know, teachers, in a traditional sense, had to wait all their life, close to retirement to become headteachers,” he said.