Attorney General Anil Nandlall has advised Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton that President Irfaan Ali has already stated the constitutional basis for his appointment of Clifton Hicken as the acting Police Commissioner and as a result there is no need for him to rehash it.
Nandlall made the position known in a letter sent four days after Norton’s representative wrote to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira seeking answers from the President on a request for consultations with the Opposition Leader on the proposal for Hicken to act as Police Commissioner.
Teixeira, on June 29, wrote to Norton seeking “meaningful consultation” between him and the President on the appointment of a person to act in the Office of Commissioner of Police pursuant to Article 211 (2) of the Constitution.
The request appeared baffling as the President had already appointed Hicken on March 30th this year when there had been no Leader of the Opposition in place nor a chairman of the Police Service Commission – both of whom have to be consulted on the appointment. Government officials had said that Ali had employed the Doctrine of Necessity in naming Hicken as the position had become vacant with the retirement of Nigel Hoppie.
In the June 29th letter to Norton, Teixeira said that Ali had considered it his “constitutional duty” to appoint Hicken to act “rather than leave a vacuum in the command and superintendence of the Guyana Police Force”. The letter gave Norton until July 4 to submit a written opinion on the proposed appointment.
On July 4, Norton’s representative, shadow Attorney General Roysdale Forde SC replied to Teixeira on behalf of Norton. He listed several questions which he said Norton needed answered before there could be meaningful consultation. He also queried whether there had been an error in Teixeira’s letter.
Nandall, in a letter dated July 8 and seen by Stabroek News, “assure[d]” Forde that there are no errors in Teixeira’s letter. He added that the letter of June 29 initiated the process of meaningful consultation as contemplated by the constitution and subsequent letters continued the process.
“By letter dated 29th June instant, the Honourable Gail Teixeira MP, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs & Governance, explicitly detailed the circumstances which eventuated (in) the appointment by His Excellency President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Mr Clifton Hicken to act in the office of Commissioner of Police with effect from the 30th day of March 2022, and the basis for that appointment.
“As the offices of the Leader of the Opposition and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission are now constituted, His Excellency the President is consulting with the Leader of the Opposition in keeping with Article 211(2) of the constitution,” the letter stated.
Nandlall informed Forde that Norton now has until July 15 to submit his written opinion on Hicken’s appointment.
Forde in his letter of July 4 to Teixeira has posed several questions.
“1. Is the President seeking to exercise his Constitutional duty on two separate occasions to appoint Mr Clifton Hicken `… to act in the office of Commissioner of Police of the Guyana Police Force?’
“2. What was the basis of and the Constitutional provisions which conferred on the President the Constitutional duty that you referred to that he exercised which resulted in the said decision “to appoint Mr Clifton Hicken to act in the office of Commissioner of Police with effect from the 30th day of March 2022?’
“3. If indeed, there is no error in your letter with respect to the declaration that the President did in fact consider `it his Constitutional duty to appoint Mr Clifton Hicken to act in the office of Commissioner of Police, with effect from the 30th day of March 2022’, can you please indicate the basis and authority for the President to exercise his Constitutional duty again?”
Forde said that the Leader of the Opposition considers the answers to the aforesaid questions as a prerequisite to him engaging in any process of meaningful consultation on the matter.
Further, Forde said that the need for clarity assumes greater significance in light of the institution of two court proceedings. The first challenging the President’s appointment of Hicken and the second, a challenge to the President’s unilateral appointment of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the lawfulness of the Constitution of the Police Service Commission and “connected matters of great Constitutional importance”.
Forde added: “The Leader of the Opposition, in other words, would only consider engaging in meaningful consultation when he is in possession of the answers to the aforesaid questions and has had time to consider them and advise himself further”.
Guyana’s Constitution states that the President can appoint a Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police only after consulting with the Opposition Leader and Chairperson of the Police Service Commission (PSC) after the Chairperson has consulted with the other members of the Commission.
In May, APNU+AFC Chief Whip Christopher Jones moved to court to challenge the appointment of Hicken as acting Commissioner of Police. In a Fixed Date Application, Jones contends that the invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity for the appointment is unreasonable and ultra vires. He also contends that the appointment violates Article 211(1) and 211(2) of the Constitution.
Hicken and the Attorney General are named as the respondents.
