…at final farewell
The sun gleamed over the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception on Brickdam, joining hundreds of others paying their final respects to one of Guyana’s finest legal minds who recently lost his battle with cancer.
Former Chief Justice Ian Chang was laid to rest on Tuesday.
“May the angels lead you into paradise and may you have eternal peace,” were the words of Fr John, who called to order the service for Chief Justice Chang, who lost his battle with cancer and died at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital on November 16.
Those among the attendees included Former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister (acting) Khemraj Ramjattan, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Retired Justice Claudette Singh, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, among others.
He was labelled as “a man of honour who lived a life of selfless service to Guyana, who impacted the lives of many persons”.
Those present joined in the singing of hymns and scriptures as they shared one final moment with the former Chief Justice.
In the closing remarks of the priest, he noted that “From dust, you were born brother Chang and dust you shall return”.
The former Judge served in the capacity of acting Chief Justice for 15 years at the Demerara High Court.
Justice Chang went off on annual leave in December 2015 ahead of his February 2016 retirement. Justice Chang presided over some highly-controversial constitutional cases in Guyana.
Additionally, Justice Chang had presided over the presidential term limit case. The constitutional challenge case was led by Georgetown resident Cedric Richardson in February 2015 and sought the court’s interpretation on the National Assembly’s changes to Article 90 as it related to four restraints on the freedom of choice by citizens at national elections.
In that case, he had ruled that the presidential term limit was unconstitutional since sovereignty resides in the people and not in the Parliament as it does in Britain; as such, certain fundamental clauses in the Constitution that serve to define its substantive nature can only be altered by a referendum of the people.
Another constitutional case over which Justice Chang presided was the challenge filed by four Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) advocates.
The legal challenge arose after four transgender persons were detained, convicted, and fined by a city Magistrate after their February 2009 arrest in Georgetown. The transgender persons filed an appeal of their conviction.
Another famous and impacting case that Justice Chang was called upon to preside over was the constitutional challenge that persons who were on a political party’s list of national candidates cannot sit in the National Assembly as non-elected members.
In that particular case, Justice Chang’s ruling prevented Citizenship Minister Winston Felix and Minister within the Social Protection Ministry Keith Scott from sitting in the National Assembly as technocrats.
