By Svetlana Marshall
Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan and his aid Attorney-at-law Arudranauth Gossai are not “fit” to represent the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and more so, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, in the Election Petition Cases, the Opposition-nominated Election Commissioners said as they renewed recommendations for the Legal Counsel to be replaced.
Notwithstanding a decision of the Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, in late October, to have Astaphan represent the Chief Elections Officer, in keeping with a recommendation made by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) nominated Commissioners, the Opposition Commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman – have been repeatedly signaling their concern.
The Chief Elections Office is the first named respondent in both cases.
In their most recent letter to the GECOM Chair, dated Friday, November 27, 2020, the Commissioners said not only has Astaphan been biased against Lowenfield but he provided advice to Trinidad’s Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes during one of the Election Cases against GECOM pre-August 2020. In the Election Petition cases, Mendes is representing the fourth named respondent, Bharrat Jagdeo – Vice President and PPP/C Representative.
“Astaphan`s admission of minimal contact with Senior Counsel Mendes, in relation to one of the Elections related cases, in which Mendes came up against GECOM, at minimum conjures up the appearance of association that could be inimical to an unbiased approach in his representation of GECOM, in a case where Mendes represents the same party in whose interest he had previously consulted with Astaphan,” the Commissioners said.
While Astaphan told the Elections Commission that his contact with Mendes in the Elections cases was minimal, the three Commissioners said they would not concede to that.
Alexander, Trotman and Corbin told Justice Singh that Astaphan’s public utterances cannot be simply ignored. “We also observed that Astaphan was bold enough to state that he will be representing the interest of ‘the public’ in his capacity as GECOM`s Attorney. Guyana has multiple publics, more so, in these electoral matters. His statement is in itself an indication of bias from the inception,” the Commissioners said while noting that there is no homogeneous public that Astaphan can represent.
“If not bias, he is naive. Neither circumstance befits him as the one to represent GECOM,” the Commissioners added.
That apart, the Commissioners said it is strange that the Senior Counsel, who has been fingered in malfeasance, in the public domain, has not seen it prudent to clear his name, even as he has been retained to clear the names of others.
Further to that, they also drew to Justice Singh’s attention that Gossai, who was recruited by Astaphan and appeared during last Tuesday’s Case Management Conference (CMC) on behalf of GECOM, had previously accepted an appointment to prosecute an election related case against the CEO.
In previous correspondence, both the GECOM Chair and Astaphan sought to allay the fears of the Opposition nominated Commissioners but Alexander, Corbin and Trotman said such would not suffice.
BREACH OF AGREEMENT
Last month, while acknowledging that the CEO is an officer of Elections Commission by law, Alexander said it is an established precedent within the Commission that the CEO would select a Counsel of his choice; however, the Commission, following an intervention by Justice Singh, voted to have the Commission identify Counsel for the CEO.
During a meeting of the Elections Commission on October 27, 2020, clear procedures were agreed upon by the Chairman and Commissioners, however, Alexander said when the Commission met on October 30, 2020, the agreed procedures were ‘thrown out the window,’ and the Commission, by a majority ruling, opted to impose Astaphan on the CEO.
It was noted that when the Opposition Commissioners nominated Senior Counsel Neil Boston to represent the CEO, it was rejected. Boston had represented the CEO in the Election Cases following the conduct of the March 2 Elections.
The Election Commissioner’s renewed recommendation for Astaphan and his assistant to be replaced comes even as Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George prepares to hear preliminary arguments in the Election Petition cases on Monday, November 30 and Tuesday, December 1.
