Dear Editor,
Honorable Justice Anderson, I am a citizen of Guyana, and the events pertaining to the CCJ of the past weeks have caused great concern to me as it relates to the working of the court and the attack on your personal integrity; I regard the request for you to recuse yourself from matters that may involve the Mohamed family as particularly reprehensible. Over the years the CCJ has been of immense importance to Guyana in maintaining our functioning as a country of laws. I commend the service you and your colleagues have provided over the decades.
It is with this in mind that I write to ask that the CCJ considers the policy position that Justice Arif Bulkan (A Born Guyanese) never be appointed to any panel that considers a matter involving Guyana, it may well be that the policy extends to Justices born in any subscribing state going forward.
In the case of Justice Bulkan, I can attest to a lifelong friendship with Guyanese lawyer/politician Nigel Hughes; were Hughes simply a practicing attorney, this would not be considered (in my opinion) particularly compromising, however, Mr. Hughes is/was the political leader of the Alliance for Change and is an acknowledged advisor to the Mohamed family. For many years visitors to the office of dentist, Dr. Jennifer Bulkan, sister of Justice Bulkan were greeted by a prominently displayed photograph of Justice Bulkan and Mr. Hughes in tight platonic embrace. Notably, Hughes and Bulkan served on the same legal team representing THE Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Guyana Trans United (GTU) in the historic Cross-dressing appeal in 2016. (see attached) Photographic evidence also exists of the Mohameds visiting the office of Mr.Hughes post-sanctions.
It could not have escaped the court’s notice that confidential emails carefully crafted to cause mischief if ever public were leaked exclusively to the Trinidad Express newspaper and by what cannot be explained as coincidence, so too was the press release asking for the reclusion of yourself (Justice Anderson) from cases involving the Mohameds given to the Express also as an exclusive (an unheard of situation for a press release).
It is ultimately for the court to decide on policy and panel compositions but for the sake of the public perception of the integrity of the CCJ, I would ask that at the very minimum, questions be asked and answers be made public for scrutiny.
I thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yours truly,
Robin Singh