National Assembly finalises nominees for Public Service Commission

…names submitted to Office of the President

The National Assembly has settled on two nominees for the long-awaited Public Service Commission (PSC), after over two years of work done by the Committee of Appointments that culminated this month.
In its eighth report to the National Assembly, the Committee of Appointments reported that it had settled on Mohandatt Goolsarran, former Director of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) as the nominee of the Guyana Public Service Senior Staff Association (GPSSA) and Janice Isabella Bowen, the nominee of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), as the National Assembly’s nominees for the PSC.

According to the committee, it meaningfully consulted with both the union and the association in arriving at those two names. This publication meanwhile confirmed with Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Issacs, that the report has formally been conveyed to the Office of the President as of Tuesday.
A perusal of the report, which was signed by committee Chairperson and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, shows that the process to select nominees for the Public Service Commission has been ongoing since January 13, 2021. At first, Vincent Bowman and Mortimer Livan were nominated to be members of the PSC. However, Bowman subsequently passed away.
“The Committee then agreed that the National Union of Public Service Employees, which represents public officers and classes of public officers in Guyana, should be invited to submit two nominees from which a selection would be made to replace Mr. Bowman on the Commission…” the committee reported.
The name of John Tull was then submitted by the National Union of Public Service Employees. Subsequently, consultation was broadened to include more organisations. After the withdrawal of a nominee from the process, the GPSSA submitted Goolsarran’s name to join Bowen, who had already been nominated in November 2021. Bowen and Goolsarran were unanimously selected by the committee and recommended to the President for appointment.

It was only earlier this month that President Dr Irfaan Ali had assured that the PSC would soon be constituted and that once this is done, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will follow. The Head of State was at the time responding to questions posed during a press conference to wrap up a two-day Cabinet outreach in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
According to President Ali, the composition of the JSC requires the Public Service Commission to be placed. To this end, he announced that they are “finalising the work” of the PSC.
“There are outstanding issues from Parliament and some other agencies to have the Public Service Commission up… [But] I can promise you very, very soon [the PSC will be constituted,” the President posited.
When the PSC is appointed, Ali pointed out “…we’ll then be able to move to the full complement of the Judicial Service Commission… As soon as that is done, the Judicial Service Commission will come in effect and then we move towards the different matters that the Judicial Service Commission has to look at.”
When it comes to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Article 198 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana states that the members must be comprised of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, who will be appointed as Chairman, the Chief Justice, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and any other members appointed to the Commission. (G3)