(Trinidad Express) There is now some light at the end of the tunnel.
The House of Representatives will meet next Wednesday to debate a motion for the approval of the five notifications for the establishment of the Police Service Commission (PolSC). The previous commission became inquorate on September 25 and memberless on September 30.
The five notifications which come from President Paula-Mae Weekes are in respect of retired Court of Appeal judge Judith Jones, Maxine Attong, Kevin Ramdhanie, Maxine King and Rajiv Persad.
The notifications are being considered as a group so there would be only one debate.
Once the House of Representatives approves the motion, the President can proceed with the appointment of the five members thereby constituting the Police Service Commission.
The President, in her own discretion appoints a chairman from among the five members. This is not subject to parliamentary consideration.
The five members will hold office for three years.
The appointment of this commission will hopefully restore stability and end the turbulence that began with the decision to suspend former commissioner of police Gary Griffith. Ultimately, the entire commission collapsed.
Once constituted, the PolSC’s first order of business will be to consider their main task, which is appointing persons to hold or act in the office of Commissioner of Police (CoP) and Deputy Commission-er of Police.
A key decision the incoming Commis-sion would have to make would be how to treat with the appointment of Commis-sioner and whether to continue with what was left from the previous commission or whether to start the process afresh.
A merit list was prepared by the last commission and, according to President Weekes, it was submitted and immediately withdrawn by the PolSC.
The new commission may have good cause not to embrace the merit list compiled by the predecessor PolSC since they would have to take responsibility for the recommendations, which they did not assess, evaluate and approve and which were done by a previous commission.
There will also be a lot of scrutiny of this commission. Its first order of business may well be to recommend the appointment of an acting Commissioner. For the first time, the name of the person/s recommended for acting Commissioner of Police and possibly acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, which are the two ranks that the PolSC has responsibility for, will come to Parliament.
The previous practice of the PolSC making acting appointments to these positions has been invalidated by the court in the judgment handed down by Justice Nadia Kangaloo on October 14.
Consequently, all appointments—both acting and substantive—for the posts of CoP and Deputy CoP must receive parliamentary approval.
The notifications require a simple majority to be approved. The Government is expected to approve the notifications, which would start the process of bringing closure to the current state of affairs in which the country has been without both a Commissioner of Police and the Police Service Commission.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has already signalled the Opposition’s objection to the President making any nominations regarding the PolSC until all the questions posed to her are answered.
Saying the President’s office is mired in controversy, Persad-Bissessar said the President lacked the moral and ethical authority to make nominations.
