PM barred from filling PSC vacancies

[Karl]

PM barred from filling PSC vacancies
published: Wednesday | December 19, 2007


Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been barred by a Supreme Court order from making recommendations to fill the vacancies in the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Last week Thursday, the members of the PSC were fired on the grounds of misbehaviour.

Justice Donald McIntosh granted the order yesterday after he heard an application brought by lawyers representing Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.

An application for judicial review is to be heard on December 28 and both parties are to be present at that hearing.

Last week Thursday, Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, acting on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, fired the members of the PSC. The Prime Minister recommended their dismissal on the grounds of misbehaviour.

The dismissal of the PSC members came a day after Mrs. Simpson MiIler got an injunction from the Supreme Court to bar the Prime Minister from recommending the dismissal of the PSC members.

Injunction against PM
Justice McIntosh, in granting the injunction, ordered that the Prime Minister not fill the vacancies until the application is heard on December 28. He also ordered that the defendants, who are the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General, must be served with all relevant documents by tomorrow.

The Opposition Leader, her agents or her representatives have been barred by the judge from airing the proceedings in the media prior to the inter partes hearing on December 28. The application was made by K.D. Knight, Q.C., and attorney-at-law Bert Samuels, instructed by attorney-at-law Linton Walters.

The recently dismissed members of the PSC and the Government had been at odds since October when the PSC recommended that Professor Stephen Vasciannie be appointed the new Solicitor General. The Government is reportedly in favour of former Deputy Solicitor General Douglas Leys for the job.

Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Foster, Q.C., is acting as Solicitor General.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com

[Karl]

LETTER OF THE DAY - Contempt for the law
published: Wednesday | December 19, 2007

The Editor, Sir:
I read the news of the dismissal of the members of the Public Service Commission with a tinge of sadness.

The onus was never going to be on the Governor-General, Professor Kenneth Hall, as regardless of his having the 'final' say in any such dismissal, it would always have been a political (government) decision.
I am a staunch supporter of the Privy Council as the final appellate court of Jamaica. Indeed, I was heartened when in 2005 the then JLP Opposition was firmly against the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) being the final court, given that the previous PNP Government had not acted in accordance with the rule of law in coming to its decision.

Before the deluge of mail and shouts of my 'plantation mentality' swells the mailbag of the editor, permit me to say this - I am wholly unconvinced that there is the level of transparency, distance and independence of politics from other spheres of society in Jamaica for me to have the trust and confidence in a Caribbean government (and, therefore, politically) appointed CCJ.

Corruption rife
Indeed, this current impasse with the Public Service Commission (PSC) bears this out. In our little island, corruption, despotism and 'me-ism' are too rife, too much in the forefront, and too arbitrary for the average citizen to feel a level of comfort that his case being dealt with fairly and justly.

One has to look no further than to Nigeria and Pakistan where, now that they have their own final appellate courts, citizens' rights seem more subject to the whim of politicians than anything else.
With the Privy Council, the 'Law Lords' sitting in the Privy Council have no 'axe to grind'. They have no political agenda to follow, they have no 'previous history' with potential solicitors general. They can, therefore, arbitrate in a sterile atmosphere, concerned solely with the rule of law, the proper separation of powers, justice and human rights.

On February 3, 2005, when the Privy Council declared that the three CCJ-related companion bills passed by the PNP Parliament were unconstitutional and, therefore, void. It was Mr. Golding who said that it was contemptuous of the Jamaican Government to seek the rights of the people without consulting them through a referendum as was required by law. The current position with the dismissal of the PSC begs the question - is this a similar contemptuous regard?
Have the Prime Minister's words come back to haunt? As the saying goes, 'The higher the monkey climbs, the more he's exposed'.

Let's hope that when this matter returns from the Privy Council, the decision will confirm the contempt and disregard that successive governments insist on displaying to the Jamaican people; and remind us of the need for a non-politicised third party, i.e., the Privy Council, to uphold the rule of law.
I am, etc.,
JENNIFER HOUSEN
Caribbean Legal Practice Institute jjhousen@yahoo.com