PRESIDENT Paula-Mae Weekes must say why she failed to submit the list of nominees for the substantive appointment of Commissioner of Police (CoP) and deputy commissioner to the Parliament for approval, when she received it almost two months ago on August 12.
Giving this ultimatum was the lead attorney for former commissioner Gary Griffith.
In a media release on Thursday, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, pointed to statements made on affidavit by acting Director of Personnel Administration, Corey Harrison, in the interpretation claim filed by social activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj.
Balgobin-Maharaj is questioning the legality of Griffith’s acting appointment when his three-year contract as CoP ended on August 16.
On Wednesday, former independent senator Martin Daly, SC, called on Weekes to say what took place on August 12 at the Office of the President which eventually led to the total collapse of the Police Service Commission (PSC) when all three members and its chairman Bliss Seepersad, resigned within days.
In his affidavit, Harrison, on behalf of the PSC, said “less than two months” after Legal Notice 183 of 2021, which set out the procedure for the selection of a commissioner and deputy commissioner, was issued, a list of nominees was submitted to the President.
Harrison maintained there was no delay by the PSC in carrying out its exercise to select a top cop given that the 2021 order was issued on June 17.
ANSWERS REQUIRED
He provided a table of events undertaken by the PSC, starting with a decision to advertise the post at a meeting on June 17, to the vetting process of the applicants from July 23 to August 9. The list of nominees was then sent to Weekes on August 12.
Maharaj now wants answers on this mystery list.
He said on receiving the list, the President was constitutionally mandated, to issue a notification to the Parliament for approval.
“The President has a duty to explain to the public why, upon receiving the list of nominees from the commission on August 12, she elected not to perform her constitutional duty under section 123 (4) of the Constitution, to submit the requisite notifications to the House of Representatives for its approval,” Maharaj said.
Openness, transparency and accountability of the State to the people demand that the President gives the public an explanation why the list was not sent to Parliament in or around August 12, Maharaj said.
Maharaj said section 123 makes no provision for the exercise of discretion by the President on how she treats with a list of nominees submitted to her by the PSC.
On the same day Weekes received the list of nominees for the substantive post of police commissioner, she also received from Seepersad, two names for the post of acting CoP.
In her reply to Seepersad on the two names for the acting position, Weekes said while Legal Notice 183 of 2021 raised for her “immediate concern,” it did not confer on her any role, function, power, or aut
