Govt rejects Police promotion list released by suspended PSC

The Government on Monday rejected as unlawful and illegal, a list of purported promotions of members of the Guyana Police Force by the Police Service Commission (PSC). This is according to a statement by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC.

Nandlall reminded that the PSC was suspended by President Dr Irfaan Ali on June 16, 2021, in the exercise of powers conferred upon him by the Constitution of Guyana. This decision of the President was communicated to each member of the PSC by a letter bearing that date which was dispatched and received, the Attorney General disclosed.
According to Nandlall, “The said decision of the President can only be rescinded, revoked, set-aside, or reversed by the President himself, or by a court of competent jurisdiction. No person, let alone, a constitutional commission, will be allowed to become judge, jury, and executioner in our constitutional democracy. The Rule of Law simply does not permit it.”

He pointed out that attempts by the PSC, therefore, to countermand, disobey and disregard the President’s decision, not only amounts to an effrontery to the highest executive office in this land but is simply absurd. “If anyone had any doubts about the independence and rectitude of this grouping who constitute the Police Service Commission, those doubts should now be put to rest.”
Nandlall added that it must be made clear that nothing in the ruling rendered by the Chief Justice in the case challenging the Police 2020 promotions gives legitimacy to the purported list of promotions issued by the PSC or any such list, as suggested in certain segments of the press.
In fact, the Attorney General noted that one of the grounds that the PSC proffered in opposition to the case brought by Senior Superintendent of Police Calvin Brutus is that “the Commission has not made a final decision regarding promotions.’’
“In the circumstances, this purported list of promotions of members of the Guyana Police Force will be ignored,” the statement by Nandlall reads.

The Chairman of the PSC, Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Slowe, several members of the Commission, and retired and serving officers are currently facing criminal charges before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. They have been implicated in a $10 million fraud over duties delegated to them for revising the Police Force’s Standing Order.
It is alleged that the officers collected payments amounting to $10 million, but never provided the Force with a revised Standing Order. Prime Minister Mark Phillips has written to Slowe and the PSC’s Commissioners at least twice, asking them to show cause why they should not be removed. (G1)