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State to appeal High Court ruling on suspension of Police Service Commission – Nandlall

Mar 29, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – The State has indicated that it will appeal High Court Judge, Gino Persaud’s decision that the Police Service Commission (PSC) was unlawfully suspended by President Irfaan Ali.

“That decision we disagree with, and it is the government’s intention to file an appeal against that decision. We believe that the President acted properly. The important thing about the case, though, is that the case really has no practical importance anymore,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC was reported as saying in the March 25, 2023 edition of the Guyana Chronicle.

High Court Judge, Justice Gino Persaud on Friday ruled that President Irfaan Ali’s decision to suspend the former PSC members was “unlawful, unfair, and ultra vires.”

Former PSC Chairman, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ret’d), Paul Slowe and fellow PSC member, Assistant Police Commissioner, Clifton Conway (ret’d), through their lawyer, Selwyn Pieters had challenged President Ali’s June 16, 2021 decision to suspend the PSC after Prime Minister Mark Phillips sent two ‘show cause’ notices to Slowe and former Commissioner, Clinton Conway.

Both men were asked to ‘show cause’ why the President should not follow the advice of the Prime Minister to remove them from the PSC.

The notices were issued after Slowe, Conway and others were charged for defrauding the Guyana Police Force (GPF) of $10M. Slowe was also accused of sexually assaulting a female cop on three occasions.

As such, the Paul Slowe led-PSC legal challenge, inter alia, sought a declaration from the court that their purported suspension by President Ali was contrary to, or in violation to the Constitution of Guyana.

They contended that Articles 226(6) and 223(10) of the Constitution prove their case and should the court find favour with their arguments, they want their suspension order revoked.  Apart from this, Slowe and Conway also asked the court to declare that the Prime Minister’s recommendation to the President for them to be removed is unlawful.

On Friday, in handing down his ruling the judge highlighted that given the grounds (criminal charges laid against Paul Slowe and others) that the Prime Minister recommended that the former PSC members be suspended, ‘there is a due process that must be followed.’

In fact, Justice Persaud highlighted that even though there was no Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to appoint a Tribunal to hear the allegations against the former PSC members, all members are entitled to their constitutional rights of protection of the law and due process, simply put, ‘presumption of innocence.’

As such, the judge stated that Paul Slowe and the other commissioners could only have been removed from constitutional office in due process, to which the Constitution does not imbue President Ali with power to suspend in the absence of a Tribunal and in doing so the president acted ultra vires.

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