Latest update April 4th, 2025 6:13 AM
Do not be persuaded by emotions or public opinion – President Ali urges new Puisne judges
President Irfaan Ali (centre) is flanked by the 10 new Puisne Judges of the High Court.
Kaieteur News – The 10 Puisne Judges who were appointed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) were on Wednesday urged by President Irfaan Ali to stay focused and not be persuaded by their emotions or public opinion.
The President, who administered the oath of office to the newly appointed judges, reminded that their judgments must withstand academic scrutiny and represent set precedents.
“In your discipline, what you do must be able to withstand scrutiny and of cause in the judiciary too, as system change, the public court as many will refer to is also out there, but as I said, your character and your separation of personal feelings must also allow you to separate public sentiments sometimes from what you write,” the President told the new Judges.
Noting that the lot represented the largest contingent of Puisne judges appointed at one time in the country’s history, the Head of State cautioned that they are no longer in private practice.
“For those who were lawyers and representing their clients, you always look out for what was in the best interest of your clients, today, you are called on as the oath suggest, to separate personal sentiments in dealing with cases before you,” the President stated.
Further, the president pointed to the advances in technology that may pose challenges to the judges. “The future of the judiciary is much more different from what we have today. Lawyers will have contemplated their points to articulate digitally and judges will have to decipher what points are AI generated and points which is actually based on law,” the President stated while urging the new judges to possess a passion for knowledge and continuous learning.
The President also lauded the JSC for facilitating the appointment of the judges whose appointment will help to reduce the backlog of cases.
According to the President, the appointments is historic for than one reason.
“Today’s ceremony is not only historic because this is the largest batch of judges to be appointed at once since our independence but this batch is predominately women, eight of the ten sworn are women,” Ali pointed out.
He said too that said with the new appointments, Guyana’s judiciary now comprises 70 percent females.
“We are now a judiciary of which 70 percent of judges are woman making us, to date perhaps and just a fact check remains the judiciary with the largest participation of women in the world… This is cause for celebration on many fronts…” the Head-of-State posited.
The President continued, “I always say in making these remarks that there is nothing to separate a woman from a man. The ability of women and their elevation in society should not be accidental or should be filling statistical gaps because woman is highly capable and component.”
The new judges are former Commissioners of Title to the Land Court, Priscilla Chandra-Hanif and Nicola Pierre, former Deputy Solicitor General Deborah Kumar-Chetty, former Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Attorney, Hessaun Sharifa-Yasin, Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus and Magistrates Peter Hugh and Zamilla Ally-Seepaul, Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court, Jaqueline Josiah-Graham; Deputy Commissioner of the GRA, Attorney Joy Persaud-Singh and Attorney and former Company Secretary of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Nigel Niles.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) – the body responsible for the appointment of judges – in a statement on Monday said that 10 judges were selected from 37 persons who applied to fill the vacancies.
The newly sworn judges will serve either in Essequibo, Demerara or Berbice.
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