By GHK Lall- Pres. Ali knows how to have a good time. He is having the time of his life. There he was in a video clip that came to me, disc jockeying, singing, and all starry-eyed dancing. The president is free to do so, though he would be wise to remember the high office he holds, the dignity attached to it. What made that video troubling is my understanding that it was a celebration for a judicial officer. And there was Pres. Ali with greased shoe soles sliding across the floor, and carrying on in his best disc jockey mode. I shall not say unbecoming of a president; only that it was untoward.
For starters, any local judicial officer is free to invite whomever they wish to their functions. Second, the president-the incumbent or any other-is similarly free to attend such a gathering. From my perspective, when such an invitation is extended and accepted, some circumspection is called for, before either action is initiated. Circumspection by the judiciary, circumspection by the executive. The discipline and care to pause, think through, and then sensibly and commendably reverse course.
The separation between the judiciary and the executive is not an imaginary line, like the equator or Prime Meridian. It is real, it should be visible, in that tangible efforts are made to keep any such mixing and socializing, more of an exception than the ordinary. It is the appearance of the development that sticks. That is, the president mere attending, then letting his hair hang down in the judicial officer’s festivities.
Too familiar. Too cozy. I repeat to avoid coming across as monastic, dogmatic: the president makes his own decisions, with whom he fraternizes. Even more so, all judicial officers in the sanctuary of their lairs. Considering the sensitivities of this country, the deep, raw polarization of Guyana, it would have been better that that occasion did not have the president there. Or the thought that his presence was necessary, good for the optics.
It was bad optics. The separation of the judiciary and executive is not a relic that is now best discarded, with a casual wave of the hand. When the guardrails that serve as checks and balances are dismantled one by one, then not much is left to inspire confidence in citizens. Meaning, they stand on firm ground relative to democracy’s ideals, and that they can depend on fairness relative to the delicate issues that plague Guyanese existence. Because if for a private function held by a judicial officer that is broadcast to the world, as if to exhibit proudly a close relationship with the president (and vice versa), then the same nonchalant approach could be seen as reasonable and proper in other circumstances.
For example, in the current environment, there is nothing to prevent a judicial officer of any seniority from turning up at a political campaign rally. Or, from attending one of those rollicking balls that have come to be associated with the fun-loving, screeching, gyrating, pirouetting (scrap the latter), and dancing away the night. When the rails are removed, one section at a time, it’s just a matter of time before there is one unholy mix, and all and sundry, giving the shortest thrift even to go through the motions.
Why pretend when the power to do as one pleases is in hand? Why think twice, worry about standards and appearance, when few, if any, are going to stand up and say that there is something wrong in all of this, and it should not be? When no one steps forward and insists that falling standards, and improper intermingling, cannot be allowed to continue to the detriment of this country, then there are no brakes on what essentially amounts to a free-for-all. Silence is accepted as license to kick more guardrails, more checks and balances, and more standards into the city dump.
I am confident that the president knows better. There is even more comfort in saying that the judiciary in its entirety possesses the sagacity to know that certain barriers, as ancient as they may be, should remain in place, because of their inestimable value. Last, from the Guyana Code of Ethics for Judicial Officers (2021), let note be taken of this statement: “Propriety and the appearance of propriety are essential to the performance of all of the activities of a judicial officer.” There! I have said enough. Over to the president. Over to the judiciary.
