Paul Slowe brings lots of baggage – Jagdeo tells Granger

Service Commission appointments

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday informed President David Granger that he has reservations about Paul Slowe being appointed to head the Police Service Commission. He explained to the Head of State that Slowe has “baggage” which may cause him to be biased in carrying out his duties.
This discussion took place between the two leaders when they met at State House to discuss the appointment of the Public and Police Service Commissions.
Thursday’s meeting was the first set of “meaningful consultations” these two leaders had to discuss the appointment of the two constitutional bodies since the National Assembly approved the nominees last month.
Updating the media after the meeting, Jagdeo said he explained to the President that, in addition to Slowe being politically affiliated with the A Partnership National Unity (APNU), for whom he had campaigned during the 2015 national elections, the former Assistant Commissioner of Police, who had been denied a promotion before his 2010 retirement, also brings issues within the Guyana Police Force.
“Now that he is going to head the Police Service Commission, I think he will bring two sets of baggage with him. One, the political approach to the job; that is, judging people based on politics; and secondly, he has a lot of interpersonal problems with many members of the Police Force, and old scores, I believe, to settle; and therefore that could harm his judgement,” Jagdeo outlined.
The Opposition Leader noted that President Granger indicated that he would speak with Slowe to ensure that he acts impartially, and not “bring baggage to the job”.
Slowe returned to the limelight last year when he was handpicked by the Head of State to carry out a commission of inquiry (COI) on the GPF’s handling of allegations in relation to the existence of a plot to assassinate the President. In his report, Slowe had recommended major reshuffling of the Force’s hierarchy, as well as sanctions against several high level ranks.
The life of the previous Police Service Commission ended last September, and there have since been calls for appointment of the new Commission to be expedited, since the Force has lost nearly a dozen senior ranks to retirement.
Jagdeo went on to say that, during Thursday’s meeting, the President and he also had discussions about other issues, including the appointment of a Police Commissioner, on which the Head of State said they would have consultants at a subsequent meeting.
The Opposition Leader has said he nevertheless mentioned how he had gone about as Head of State to appoint a Police Commissioner during his regime.
“I pointed out the way I approached the selection of the Police Commissioner when we selected Felix; the open, transparent ways. We [had gotten] the four top officers, send them off for training, ranking them, and then [Winston] Felix came out number one in the ranking…” Jagdeo related.
In regard to the Public Service Commission, the Opposition Leader said, he also raised concerns stakeholders have indicated about the nominees for the Public Service Commission. Last month, the National Assembly approved Vincent Bowman and Mortimer Livan as nominees for the Commission, which expired back in August last year.
“Some people called me yesterday, since they found out who the nominees were, and they indicated that they had some issues with some of the nominees. I had an obligation to bring these issues to the attention of the President. Nevertheless, I pointed out to him it’s his call, because he has to fulfill the constitutional requirement of meaningful consultation,” Jagdeo posited.
At Thursday’s meeting with the Opposition Leader, the President was joined by State Minister Joseph Harmon and the Legal Affairs Minister, Attorney General Basil Williams; while Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira and Anil Nandlall accompanied the Opposition Leader to the meeting.