Outgoing Opposition and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader Aubrey Norton has announced that he will not support President Irfaan Ali’s request to confirm Justices Roxane George-Wiltshire and Navindra Singh as the substantive Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice, respectively.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Norton emphasised that he had consistently supported Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards as Chancellor and Justice George-Wiltshire as Chief Justice. He said he could not endorse the removal of Justice Cummings-Edwards from her acting role.
“From the inception of my engagements with President Irfaan Ali, I made it very, very clear, as pellucid as I can, that I was not prepared to support the removal of Justice Cummings,” Norton said. “I gave consent for the appointment of Justice Cummings and Justice Wiltshire a while back, and that position has not changed.”
Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards was effectively removed from her position as acting Chancellor of the Judiciary following President Ali’s announcement that she would proceed on early retirement, a decision she reportedly did not initiate voluntarily. Observers have suggested that the circumstances surrounding her departure indicate she was pressured out of the role, forcing her into pre-retirement leave effective October 27, 2025.
The situation was further complicated when Justice Cummings-Edwards returned from a two-month vacation on October 15, 2025. Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh refused to vacate his post, which would have allowed previously acting Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire to occupy the office, creating an untenable situation for Justice Cummings-Edwards and likely influencing her decision to retire early.
President Ali stated that Justices George-Wiltshire and Singh would continue performing the duties of acting Chancellor and acting Chief Justice, respectively, following her pre-retirement leave.
Norton explained that he had not responded to the President’s letter requesting his agreement for the substantive appointments because he did not want his reply misused as evidence of consultation. “Even on the first occasion when he wrote me on the issue, I did not respond, and I did not respond to this one because I know of the tendency of using anything you would have written as if you were meaningfully consulted,” he said.
He also expressed concerns over Justice Singh’s appointment as Chief Justice, citing that other judges, senior to him, were more suitable for the role. “Let us assume that they had agreed and chose one of the senior ones. I was going to consult with Azruddin [Mohamed] before making a decision,” Norton said.
In 2022, Norton, in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition, had written to President Ali expressing support for the substantive confirmation of acting Chancellor Cummings-Edwards and acting Chief Justice George-Wiltshire, but the President did not respond to that outreach.
The matter touches on Article 127(1) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, which stipulates that the President appoints the Chancellor and Chief Justice only after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition. Failure to reach an agreement can result in prolonged acting appointments, complicating the judiciary’s leadership.
Touching on the current impasse Norton said “The issue was raised with me, and I took the position that I had to hear from Justice Yonette Cummings herself that she had voluntarily agreed to go. I never managed to contact her, but I saw the President indicating that she had gone on retirement leave.”
That, for me, was enough to suggest that I shouldn’t get involved in appointing a permanent Chancellor and Chief Justice,” Norton said.
