Latest update August 19th, 2026 8:14 PM
CJ rules Hicken’s appointment as Top Cop after age 55 legal
Top Cop: Clifton Hicken
Kaieteur News – The high court has ruled that the appointment of Clifton Hicken as top cop past the retirement age of 55 is legal.
The decision was handed down by Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George on Tuesday. While the judge reserved her reasoning for the decision for a later date, she awarded the $500,000 to be paid by the applicant, Troy Garraway, who challenged the appointment. The cost is to be paid by August 29, 2025. Mr. Garraway had questioned the legality of Hicken’s substantive appointment after he reached the retirement age for public servants in 2023.
President Irfaan Ali had relied on the Constitution (prescribed matters) Act to appoint Hicken substantively on December 19, 2024, but Garraway, of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) said “this provision relates to the extension of a Commissioner of Police already in office”. Garraway had argued that the president confirmed Hicken as a substantive top cop after he turned 55.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC had argued on behalf of the state that the substantive appointment of Hicken as police commissioner after reaching the retirement age of 55 is possible, although the law is silent on whether or not that can be done.
Nandlall had maintained that the Constitution (Prescribed Matters) Act allows for the extension in office of the Commissioner of Police beyond the age of 55 up to 60 years. He argued that nothing in the law prohibits a confirmation after the age of 55, and the president’s actions were therefore valid.
He stated “Mr. Hicken was by law, permitted to serve as acting commissioner until he attained such later age, not exceeding sixty years. Logically, if an acting commissioner can lawfully serve beyond the age of retirement, he may certainly, if there is no provision within any written law prohibiting same, be substantively appointed during his lawful extension in office, before attaining the age of 60 in accordance with section 2 (b) of the Constitutional (Prescribed Matters) Act”.
Dr Dexter Todd, lawyer for the applicant, had accepted that an acting appointment beyond the age of 55 was permissible, but contended that Hicken’s confirmation should have occurred before he turned 55, as there was no legal provision allowing for a substantive appointment at that age.
He noted that Mr. Garraway’s contention is that no law permitted the appointment of Mr. Hicken as police commissioner after he became 55 years old. He however did not point to any law that prohibited this from happening.
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