Dulalchan wants answers

UPDATE:

ACTING Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Deodat Dulalchan is questioning the selection process used by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to nominate acting DCP Harold Phillip as Commissioner of Police (CoP).

Dulalchan’s nomination to the top cop post was defeated in the House of Representatives in June.

On Monday, secretary to President Paula-Mae Weekes notified Clerk of the House Jacqui Sampson-Meiguel of the PSC’s nomination of Phillip to be presented to the House.

In a letter sent to PSC chairman Bliss Seepersad yesterday, one of Dulalchan’s attorneys Kiel Tacklalsingh asked for information on the PSC’s nomination.

Specifically, they want to be told whether the PSC made any new recommendation for the post of CoP and if so, when was it made and who were the persons recommended.

Dulalchan’s lawyers also want to know if the PSC engaged in a process of re-evaluation and upon what instructions did this process take place, and whether it differed from the one which led to Dulalchan being recommended for the top cop post.

“Were any of the matters which formed part of the Parliamentary debate with respect to the previous assessment exercise by the PSC considered and relied on?” the lawyers asked, asking also for details.

They also want to know if any new recommendation was made by the PSC, and what rationale and reasons were used.

“Given that any new recommendation would have been a mater of very recent vintage, we trust and expect that you would be able to furnish the aforementioned information.”

The PSC chairman has been given until noon on Friday to provide the information.

“You would appreciate this information is not only beneficial to our client but is necessary for the transparency and accountability to the public to ensure confidence in the process of appointment.”

The Lower House is expected to debate the PSC’s latest recommendation on July 9.

Before voting against the motion to confirm Dulalchan’s nomination in June, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the Government could not support a questionable selection process.

“We are sending it back to the PSC to follow the law, follow the order and not follow unseen hands in trying to give us a CoP,” Rowley declared.

The Prime Minister promised Government would return to Parliament in the future to ensure a proper selection process for a CoP is put in place.

On Tuesday, Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis disclosed at a sitting of the House of Representatives, that a new notification for the appointment of a CoP had come to the Parliament.

Recalling that the House recently determined that the process the PSC used to select a CoP was “lacking in transparency,” Robinson-Regis said, “One can come to the conclusion that the Commission did a job which cannot be explained and which was wholly unreliable.”

Robinson-Regis said recommendations coming out of that flawed process “cannot and will not be accepted.” She also instructed the Clerk of the House not to proceed with the recommendation.

ORIGINAL STORY:

ACTING Deputy Commissioner of Police Deodat Dulalchan is questioning the selection process used by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to nominate deputy DCP Harold Phillip as Commissioner of Police.

Dulalchan’s nomination for the top cop post was defeated in the House of Representatives in June.

On Monday, President Paula-Mae Weekes's secretary notified Clerk of the House Jacqui Sampson-Meiguel of the PSC’s nomination of Phillip, to be presented to the House.

In a letter to PSC chairman Bliss Seepersad today, one of Dulalchan’s attorneys, Kiel Tacklalsingh, asked for information on the nomination.

The PSC chairman has been given until noon on Friday to provide the information.