Kamla concerned over new CoP selection process

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar sees political interference by Government in the new process for selecting a commissioner of police and deputies which could see the service converted into a private army.

She said there seems to be a move to remove sitting CoP Gary Griffith from the position, as the Cabinet is split down the middle on having him stay and seeing him go.

Griffith's term expires in August. He has expressed a desire to continue in the position and send in an application.

She said the matter was debated in the Senate on Monday and some Senators have filed a motion to have the legal notice of 2021 negatived.

She said similar action will be taken when the matter comes to the House of Representatives.

On the United National Congress (UNC) Virtual Report platform on Monday night, Persad-Bissessar said, “Mischief (as it is used in law) is being created for the ruling party or a sitting Government to select a CoP and then to use that CoP and the police force to harass persons and deal with persons they just don’t like or their opponents.

“From the time they first came into office in 2015, the PNM immediately set about trying to interfere in this process, because they wanted to put their choice of CoP.”

She said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi's explanation that the new process for selecting a CoP is a simplification is not correct.

He said the new process "removes the need for international advertisements for the post," she said, "when in fact this was already the case since 2015, when he was AG.

“If he really didn’t know, then it really shows his incompetence. If he is aware, then he is intentionally trying to mislead the population.

“Is this an attempt to distract from some other sinister motive?”

Having seen the legal notice of the order on selecting a CoP and deputy CoP, Persasd-Bissessar submitted, “Government is moving to change the law, really, I think, to put in place their hand-picked CoP."

She recalled having taken the matter of Harridath Maharaj vs the AG to court in 2015 when the then National Security Minister triggered the process for selecting of a CoP.

“We stopped them in their tracks. So now six years later, it is worse – it is blatant political interference.”

She questioned the removal of the use of an independent selection firm (KPMG in the last process) which provides independent HR expertise to evaluate the best person for the job.

She said this raises concerns about the Police Service Commission having the expertise to make a proper evaluation of the highest ranked candidates placed on an order of merit list and which the firm would have submitted to the PSC.

She explained the process in which the top candidate from the list would have been submitted to the President, and then sent to the Lower House for approval, or the list debated one candidate at a time until approval was granted.

“What the 2021 order does, instead of sending one name at a time to the President, the PSC will now send the entire list to the President.

“This is a very serious matter, because Her Excellency the President does not have the constitutional remit to have a discretion to choose which name from that list should be sent to Parliament.”

She said the President must act on the advice of the Cabinet, so in the absence of any discretion, the choosing of a candidate would fall squarely into the hands of Government and the Cabinet.

“A CoP has command and is in charge of the entire police force, and therefore the independence of the selection panel, which is the PSC, must be guaranteed, must be constitutionally protected.”