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alexk
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Former national security minister Gary Griffith, who has threatened legal action against the Police Service Commission over breaches in the selection of a Commissioner of Police nominee, says the PSC has been given a “get-out-of-jail card” by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, who has said “don’t scrap the process but go back, do your homework and get it right.” If this is done, Griffith said, the country could have a commissioner “in a couple of weeks.”
On Wednesday, Griffith sent a pre-action protocol letter to new PSC chairman Bliss Seepersad threatening action if it did rescind the list sent to the President. Through attorney Christian Chandler, he said the PSC “had no right to conduct their own assessments and grading, since the legal notice was clear that the task of the PSC in the process was to accumulate the points of each candidate submitted by the firm (KPMG) based on the assessments and then accumulate it to then provide a merit list to be sent to the President.
Speaking on CNC3’s Morning Brew yesterday, Griffith expressed confidence that Seepersad, who has succeeded Dr Maria Therese-Gomes, will rectify the problem.
Reiterating that the PSC had no authorisation to amend the requirements for the position, Griffith accused two PSC members of interfering in the process to his detriment.
The PSC also had no authority to interview “someone who never applied for the post of commissioner,” for the job, he said in reference to the fact that DCP Deodat Dulalchan did not apply for the position but still became the PSC’s top nominee. Griffith said the PSC “had no qualification or expertise in the process of selection of a commissioner” and needed to “adhere to the merit list drafted by KPMG,” which he said was done by international experts in line with international best practice.
Instead of compiling the points from the KPMG assessment, he said, “they totally disregarded it and an individual who got 81 points they decided to reduce it by 23 points because they did not want somebody who was not a police officer.”
Griffith insisted that in the KPMG assessment, he was the “top candidate with 81.94 per cent.” He insisted this has nothing to do with him being appointed CoP, adding they were free to “bypass me and go to Stephen Williams who was second or Seales who was third.”
Asked how long the process may now take for selection of a CoP, Griffith said, “This could be done in a matter of weeks.”
The process, he said, had nothing to do with the politicians. He said while the Opposition appeared to support Dulalchan for the post, “what I noticed yesterday, the Government showed they had no horse in the race.” He denied Government was supporting him for the job.
But Griffith said he was not surprised the UNC did not support him because “I was fired for speaking the truth.”