HGP Nightly News – Reports alleging that a majority of Caribbean Court of Justice judges have accused CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson of “authoritarian” and “dictatorial” leadership have revived concerns previously raised by PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton about the regional court’s impartiality.
The reported internal allegations have not been independently established. However, they have returned attention to Norton’s disclosure last year that Justice Anderson personally engaged him in discussions concerning the substantive appointment of Guyana’s then acting Chancellor, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards.
Norton said Justice Anderson initiated the engagement and that he made his support for Cummings-Edwards clear. Under Guyana’s Constitution, the substantive appointment of the Chancellor requires agreement between the President and the Opposition Leader.
“All I would say to you is that I was engaged by him. I gave him my views on the situation,” Norton said at the time.
According to Norton, he opposed any attempt to supersede Cummings-Edwards for the substantive position. He said he eventually ended the engagement after becoming uncomfortable with its direction.
Norton declined to disclose the precise proposal reportedly discussed, but later declared: “This last set of engagement raised serious concerns about the impartiality of the Caribbean Court of Justice.”
Asked whether Justice Anderson had been acting at the request of President Irfaan Ali, Norton said he could not confirm that suggestion. He nevertheless said he suspected that the engagement may have been connected to the President.
No evidence was publicly produced to establish that Justice Anderson was acting on instructions from President Ali.
Justice Anderson also met Guyanese opposition leaders on October 15, 2025, during a visit that APNU said included discussions about judicial reform and the condition of Guyana’s judiciary.
Nine days later, on October 24, Justice Cummings-Edwards proceeded into early retirement. She had returned from leave one day earlier while Justice Navindra Singh continued serving as acting Chief Justice instead of returning to his substantive position.
Those developments followed a meeting between President Ali and the CCJ president, prompting questions from Norton and other political figures about Justice Anderson’s involvement in discussions surrounding Guyana’s senior judicial appointments.
Norton subsequently said the episode had fundamentally altered his view of the CCJ, despite the PNCR and its predecessors having supported the establishment of the regional court.
The latest reported accusations concerning Justice Anderson’s management of the CCJ do not, by themselves, prove Norton’s allegations about partiality or political involvement. They nevertheless intensify scrutiny of his leadership and raise broader questions about transparency within the region’s highest judicial institution.
The controversy is particularly sensitive because the CCJ serves as Guyana’s final appellate court. Public confidence in its independence depends not only on the impartiality of its decisions but also on the perception that its judges and administrators remain free from political influence.
Norton’s earlier disclosures and the new allegations concern two separate issues, Justice Anderson’s reported management of the CCJ and his alleged intervention in Guyana’s judicial appointments. Their emergence together, however, is likely to deepen calls for the CCJ president to clarify the nature of his engagement with Norton and address the reported complaints from fellow judges.
