Gov’t moves to set up service commissions
Corbin calls it act of ‘bad faith’
By Patrick Denny
Stabroek News
April 2, 2003
The government has decided to move ahead on its own with the establishment of the four service commissions which have been held up for more than a year because of a stalemate between the ruling party and the opposition parliamentary parties.
The Public Service, the Teaching Service, the Police Service and the Judicial Service commissions were not re-established after the terms of office of its members expired more than a year ago. This made it impossible to deal with matters of appointment, promotion, transfer and discipline of the members of the various services and resulted in serious problems particularly the non-appointment of a new police commissioner.
However, the government’s decision is likely to jeopardise the planned talks between President Bharrat Jagdeo and PNCR leader Robert Corbin. Corbin yesterday told Stabroek News that he would have to consider whether meeting with “Jagdeo makes any sense”.
He called the statement and the announcement yesterday by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon on the service commissions as “clearly another demonstration of bad faith when they have agreed to the appointment of the Parliamentary Management Committee (PMC), (which) they appear not to want to implement.”
The political stalemate arose out of a controversy between the government and the opposition parties over the composition of the PMC and parliamentary sectoral committees. This stalemate prevented the convening of the Appointive Committee which under the reformed constitution was entrusted with the task of consulting with various groups in society for nominations to the service commissions. It is the Appointive Committee the government is now preparing to move ahead with.
A statement from the Office of the President (OP) yesterday said, “The time has come for the Government to take steps to constitute the several constitutional commissions - Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission and the Teaching Service Commission.”
It added that because the “Opposition has not indicated its preparedness to immediately participate in the process, the President has instructed the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs (Reepu Daman Persaud) to take the necessary steps so that Parliament can perform its role in appointing categories of members of the service commissions”.
“Once the commissions are in place, it is the expectation that they will expeditiously resolve the many outstanding issues, including the appointment of Mr Winston Felix as Commissioner of Police.”
The statement said that out of courtesy the President on March 22 dispatched letters informing Corbin and the leaders of the other parliamentary parties about his decision. Corbin told Stabroek News yesterday that he had received the letter on March 24, the same day that President Jagdeo departed on a state visit to China. The GAP/WPA confirmed receipt of the letter but Stabroek News was unable to ascertain when it was delivered.
Corbin described the reference to Felix’s appointment as “hogwash, a blatant untruth and an attempt to hoodwink the nation”.
He said that his late predecessor Desmond Hoyte was Opposition Leader for a year but the government had made no move to appoint the commissions. He also pointed out that Hoyte had agreed to Felix’s appointment since April 2002 but no move had been made to appoint him. The government had argued that the Police Service Commission had to be in place before the appointment could properly be made.
Corbin added that, “The PNCR has always expressed its willingness to have the Service Commissions established and has always made clear the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition was an irrelevance as the appointment was in the hands of the PNCR and the other parliamentary opposition parties.”
He asserted, “The Leader of the Opposition would be appointed when there is work for him to do under the reformed parliament in accordance with the constitution. The appointment of the Leader of the Opposition has never been an issue.”
The opposition parties had asked the Speaker to convene a meeting for that purpose in February but PNCR Chief Whip Lance Carberry had later requested that it be called off. The OP statement said “The administration is disappointed that there seems to be a lack of urgency in filling the post of Leader of the Opposition”.
A meeting of the Committee of Selection of the National Assembly is being held on Friday to select the members to sit on the Appointive Committee which would undertake the consultations on behalf of the parliament with the various interest groups to be represented on the service commissions.
The meeting was re-scheduled from last Friday after Corbin said the PNCR had pointed out to the Speaker that the notice for the meeting was too short (about a day and half) and asked that it be rescheduled. Corbin also said that the letter also said that no indication was given to Parliamentary Chief Whip, Carberry who met with the Speaker and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister on Thursday to discuss the strengthening of the Parliament Office to service the new select committees. He said that it was the normal practice for the PNCR to be consulted about the dates the meetings are to be held.
Corbin explained that if the proposal for holding the meeting had been raised, Carberry would have informed them that the PNCR intended to substitute another member for Corbin, who before his election as PNCR leader, was appointed to the Committee of Selection.
Corbin said that he was informed of the meeting by the notice he received as a member of the Committee of Selection.
Article 200(1)(b) of the Constitution provides for two members of the Public Service Commission to be appointed upon their nomination by the National Assembly after it has consulted such bodies as appear to it to represent public officers or classes of public officers.”
Article 210(1)(c) provides for four members to be appointed to the Police Service Commissions by the President upon their nomination by the National Assembly after it has consulted with the relevant bodies which appear to it to represent the majority of the members of the Police Force and any other such body it deems fit.
In terms of the Teaching Service Commission, Article 207(1)(c) provides for three persons to be appointed by the President after meaningful consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.
With respect to the Judicial Service Commission, Article 198(2)(a) provides for the President to meaningfully consult with the Leader of the Opposition. It also provides in Article 198(2)(b) for not less than one and not more than two others who are attorneys at law not in active practice who appear to the National Assembly to represent the attorneys at law in Guyana.
The government had warned for many months that it might proceed to constitute the service commissions if the political stalemate continued.
