On his last working day as Opposition Leader, PNC Reform Leader, Aubrey Norton today said he will not be offering his support for the confirmation of a substantive Chancellor and Chief Justice.

Last Friday, President Irfaan Ali last wrote to the outgoing Opposition Leader seeking his agreement for Justice Roxane George to be appointed as substantive Chancellor of the Judiciary and Justice Navindra Singh to be appointed substantive Chief Justice. The two were recently appointed to act in the top judicial positions.

But today, Mr. Norton said he will not support the appointments. He said he has always supported Justice Yonette Cummings for the position of Chancellor and Justice Roxanne George as the substantive Chief Justice. Justice Cummings has since proceeded on pre-retirement leave just after returning to work after two months of vacation leave.

Mr. Norton said he wanted to give consideration to the President’s letter but after the President’s announcement that Justice Cummings was heading off on retirement, he concluded that she was forced out, and decided not to get involved.

“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 suggested that I shouldn’t get involved in appointing a permanent Chancellor and Chief Justice,” Norton said.

Norton said even if he was prepared to engage the Government on the issue, he was not prepared to support Justice Navindra Singh as the country’s next Chief Justice. He said he maintains the view that there were other Judges who were senior to Justice Singh, and were very worthy of nomination.

“Let us assume that they had agreed and chose one of the Senior ones, like I said to people, I was going to consult with Azruddin (Mohamed), before I make a decision,” Norton stated.

Mr. Norton said he did not respond to the President’s letter because he did not want his response to be interpreted to mean there was consultation on the issue.

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