On July 10th, the Government of Guyana formally notified the Leader of the Opposition, in writing, that Justice Roxane George would assume the acting duties of Chancellor while Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards proceeded on leave, and that Justice Navindra Singh would be temporarily assigned to act as Chief Justice.
Yet today, in open defiance of the constitutional process, Justice Navindra Singh refuses to demit the acting post of Chief Justice. He remains unlawfully occupying the nation’s highest judicial seat, as if constitutional authority has no meaning. This is not a clerical error. It is an outrageous act of judicial arrogance, one that reeks of political protection and moral decay.
To put it bluntly, a justice who refuses to vacate an office after being constitutionally superseded is not merely undisciplined, he is disqualified from further service.
This behavior is beneath the dignity of the judiciary. It signals creeping authoritarianism, where constitutional “procedure” is treated as optional, and power is retained by force of entitlement rather than rule of law. This is how judicial independence dies. Not in one dramatic blow, but in carefully staged acts of quiet illegitimacy.
It is impossible for any citizen to believe Justice Navindra Singh can fairly adjudicate politically sensitive matters while he is actively occupying an office he has no moral or constitutional authority to hold. He has stained his robe. He has ruptured trust. He has confirmed the worst fear of every citizen, that justice in Guyana is becoming a private arrangement between friends of the regime.
This is not a trivial administrative misunderstanding. It is a test of whether the rule of law still exists.
Silence is complicity. The Bar Association must speak. The private sector must speak. The Opposition must take legal and parliamentary action. The ordinary Guyanese citizen must not become numb to constitutional sabotage dressed in professional clothing. Because if the judiciary itself is prepared to trample its own rules, then no Guyanese is safe from arbitrary power.
