High Court Judge Gino Persaud recently dismissed an application by Attorney General Anil Nandlall for the case filed by the former Police Service Commission (PSC) against the President Irfaan Ali’s decision to suspend the Commission members, to be thrown out.
Attorney at Law Selwyn Pieters, the lawyer representing the former PSC Commissioners, during an interview last night on our affiliate Social Media talk show “In the Ring,” hosted by Sherod Duncan, stated that the former Commissioners are in a fight for their dignity. “This president must not have that power (to suspend a constitutional body); this President or any other in the future, must not interfere with a constitutional body the way the Police Service Commission was dealt with,” Peters argued. The international lawyer implored all Guyanese to put aside their political stripes and recognize that the political machinery has its own sphere and it cannot trample into the sphere of a constitutionally mandated body. He recalled that the PSC is appointed through a parliamentary process and that Parliament granted the body its stamp of approval.
In another case involving constitutional issues, the AG failed to convince the Chief Justice (Ag.), Roxane George-Wiltshire, that the appointment of two People Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) candidates as Parliamentary Secretaries was unconstitutional. The Chief Justice (ag) found that by virtue of the Secretaries sitting in the National Assembly as non-elected parliamentarians and candidates on the PPP/C lists, the Election Laws were grossly being violated. The judgment followed a challenge by APNU+AFC Parliamentarian Christopher Jones who had contended that the appointments of Sarah Browne and Vikash Ramkissoon, were done in violation of the Constitution and Election Laws, since they were sitting as both elected and non-elected members of the National Assembly.
While in yesterday’s ruling the Judge found that the Attorneys representing the former Police Service Commission might have erred in filing the matter under the Commission’s name knowing an expiration date was coming and the Commission members were already suspended, he ruled that the matter could continue with the former Chairman of the Commission, Paul Slowe being substituted as the applicant in the matter instead of the PSC. The Judge acted in accordance with the inherent Jurisdiction of the Court and the Civil Procedure Rules to make the Order of substitution, in the interest of justice.
The Judge said it was not fair for the substantive case to be thrown out simply because the life of the Commission had expired; holding further, that the matter was of high public interest. With today’s ruling, the substantive case challenging President Ali’s unconstitutional act of encroaching and infringing on the PSC by suspending its members, a power not given to him under law, will move forward. Pieters, a Canada based Guyanese Lawyer, stresses how important it is for the Government to respect the constitutional autonomy of independent Service Commissions, else people might not be motivated to fill those roles over fears of being kicked around, he warned.
The Chairman and members of the former PSC were suspended on June 16, 2021, days before the Chief Justice ruled in the PSC’s favour in a promotion case that was filed by two senior officers who challenged the promotions by the PSC. The PSC members are seeking declarations that the President’s suspension was in violation of the laws of Guyana.
More, In The Ring.
