(Trinidad Express) President George Maxwell Richards is not resigning.
He will not subject the country to any constitutional crisis by creating a vacuum in the Office of the President, as is being called for by some persons (who have been calling for his resignation).
In a firm statement on Friday in which he apologised, Richards, who is still overseas on vacation, gave his first comment on the collapse of the Integrity Commission. The statement came from the President’s House last night.
“The first responsibility to a concerned nation is that of accepting responsibility for such error as has led to this unfortunate imbroglio. As your President, I deeply regret the anxiety experienced by the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the embarrassment occasioned to the appointees,” Richards said.
Richards accepted blame, saying: “The responsibility is and remains mine, and I accept this, unreservedly.”
But the President also suggested that questions can also be “legitimately” raised as to whether there might have been shortcomings in the appointment process.
“Should persons selected have been more forthcoming, more exacting in their self-assessment and qualified fitness for purpose? Should the Office of President be endowed with investigatory facilities and resources to better sift the process of those who will guard the guards? Should those consulted themselves have had a more reliable process in place to receive the invitation for consultation and, themselves have been more forthcoming, to enable the consultation to be more meaningful? Did the President err?” he asked.
“All of these are legitimate questions which arise to be weighed. The process of enquiry can feed itself, well meaning and otherwise; the finger pointing itself can become unending,” the President said.
He added, “A deliberative process is not free from the possibility of error and, to err is human.”
The President maintained that “in every respect, the selections made were of honourable men and women,” but “whose selections have been undone by circumstances, some, one may say, of their own making, some not.”
Noting that the appointments were first met with “widespread acclamation,” he said the appointed members had behaved as the exemplars that they are and for the reason they were chosen.
“They have behaved honourably and the nation must applaud them,” he said.
He extended best wishes for continued commitment to the service of Trinidad and Tobago to Fr Henry Charles, Jeffrey McFarlane, Justice Zainool Hosein, Gladys Gafoor and Lylla Bada.
The President pointedly refrained from addressing directly any of the questions raised as a consequence of the mass resignations.
Hosein was the first to resign because he claimed the President reneged on a promise to make him Deputy Chairman. McFarlane, who was ineligible for appointment because he was on three state boards, was next to go, returning his warrant of appointment. Father Henry then resigned because canon law prohibited his assumption of the office, but also amidst allegations of plagiarism, which he stated he raised with the President before the appointment. Bada and Gafoor followed shortly after.
