Appointment of Public Service Commission also languishing

As with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), and despite assurances, the Irfaan Ali-led Government is yet to reconstitute another important constitutional body—the Public Service Commission (PSC).

In an interview with this newspaper back in August of last year, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall SC had said that both the JSC and PSC would have been re-appointed by the end of that month.

Close to half a year ago since then, however, neither of the Commissions has been reconstituted and with no word from government, it remains unclear when the necessary appointments are likely to be done.

In accordance with the Constitution, the PSC would need to be in existence before the JSC, since the Chairman of the former has to be a member of the latter.

The life of the PSC expired on August 9th of last year. Nandlall in response to questions posed by Stabroek News later that month had said that the appointment process was activated and that President Ali was “actively working” on appointments to the PSC as well as the JSC.

“So, before the end of this month [August 2021] I would say, we should have those appointments made public,” the AG had assured.

Now, months later, however, the PSC and JSC are yet to be reappointed.

In accordance with Article 198 (1) of the Constitution, the members of the Judicial Service Commission shall be—(a) the Chancellor, who shall be Chairman; (b) the Chief Justice; (c) the Chairman of the Public Service Commission; and (d) such other members referred to as…appointed members.

Just two months ago, Ali said he was committed to his constitutional mandate of ensuring the necessary appointments to the JSC as well as the long overdue substantive appointments of the two top judicial posts of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice.

There has, however, been no progress and it remains unclear what is causing the delay in these critical constitutional appointments, including the reappointment of the PSC, which all require consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.

Previously, Ali had refused to engage Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon owing to the latter’s refusal to recognize the government as legitimate; but has since acknowledged that there is no such pre-condition and has moved away from that stance.

“I am fully committed to abiding by every aspect of the constitution. There is no precondition to fulfilling my mandate in accordance with the constitution. What I know is that you have a president who will fulfill his constitutional mandate and my constitutional mandate in the appointment of various constitutional office holders will be done in full conformity with the requirements of the constitution. I can assure you this,” Ali told a news conference last October.

He at the same time had said that the appointment of the members of the JSC would have been addressed after his return from the United Nations Climate Change Conference which at the time was being held in the UK.

In accordance with Article 200 (1) (a) of the Constitution, three of the 6-member PSC must be appointed by the President acting after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.

Meanwhile, Article 127 (1) of the Constitution states that the President and the Opposition Leader must agree on the nominees for Chancellor and Chief Justice before the substantive appointments can be made. “The Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall each be appointed by the President, acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition,” it states.

The JSC has not been re-appointed since its expiration on September 30th, 2017.

Guyana has not had a substantive Chief Justice since Justice Desiree Bernard was elevated to the post of Chancellor in 2001 and no substantive Chancellor since Justice Bernard stepped down from the bench here in 2005.

Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice Roxane George were respectively appointed acting Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice back in 2017—weeks after the retirement of then acting Chancellor Carl Singh, who was also never confirmed despite having served for 12 years.

For 12 years Justice Singh acted as Chancellor, while Justice Ian Chang acted as Chief Justice before Justice George was appointed to act in that capacity.