Did GECOM Chairman lie about serving as Grenada’s Chief Justice?

Newly appointed Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice James Patterson, may need to publicly explain to the nation why there is no official confirmation to date that he served as Chief Justice of Grenada as stated on his official curriculum vitae (CV).

This was presented to President David Grainger and shared with Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. Numerous calls by Kaieteur News to the Chairman were not returned yesterday, a day after Jagdeo said that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) was digging deeper into Patterson’s claims that he served as Chief Justice in 1987.

“There have been some serious concerns raised about whether justice Patterson was ever the Chief Justice of Grenada. Many people have called me about this matter and we are going to dig into it a bit more; we are going to try to confirm it because that is on his CV that I have received,” Jagdeo stated.

If it turns out that Justice Patterson indeed lied about his tenure as Chief Justice, it would be embarrassing for him and the Government, providing grounds for his possible resignation from the office since his hiring was based on false information provided to the President. Granger had told the media at Patterson’s swearing-in that he has served as Chief Justice in Grenada. On Monday when asked about the brewing controversy, President Granger did not repeat the claim, but instead said Justice Patterson was a judge of the High Court of Guyana. “His Curriculum Vitae is not a secret. You can examine it for yourself. He was a judge in Guyana; that’s important,” the President said.

Kaieteur News has also been unable to verify Justice Patterson’s Grenada claims although there are suggestions that he may have acted briefly in the post.

Records shared with Kaieteur News suggested that Justice Robert Archibald Nedd served as Chief Justice of Grenada from 1979 to 1986. He was succeeded by Sir Denis Byron who acted as Chief Justice until 1987 when Sir Samuel Horatio Graham was appointed substantive Chief Justice.

“All that we are hearing from individuals who work in Grenada, who were lawyers in Grenada during that period said they don’t know about (Patterson),” Jagdeo noted.

The former President stated that if turns out to be untrue then Justice Patterson would immediately be disqualified as it would prevent him from acting impartially and with integrity at GECOM.

(Kaieteur News)