The constitutional crisis that had been simmering for weeks has now exploded into the open.
Yesterday’s ruling by Justice Nadia Kangaloo that the appointment of an acting Commissioner of Police without Parliament’s approval is unconstitutional and illegal instantly invalidated the appointments of Gary Griffith and Deputy Commissioner of Police McDonald Jacob. Further, it also invalidated all previous appointments of acting commissioners of police made without parliamentary approval going back to mid-2009.
As it stands now, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is headless with neither a Commissioner of Police nor an acting Commissioner. Worse, it has no immediate remedy for the problem since there is also no Police Service Commission (PolSC) in place to initiate the process for filling the vacancy. The situation is further complicated by the question of the legality of actions of unconstitutionally appointed acting commissioners since 2009, which may open up a can of worms unless retroactively validated.
This is the pass to which the country has been brought by a toxic brew of incompetence and, quite possibly, mischief.
The immediate point to be made is that there would have been no issue regarding the legality of the acting appointments of Griffith and Jacob if the merit list of candidates for the substantive position of Commissioner of Police, which then-PolSC chairman Bliss Seepersad went to deliver to President Paula-Mae Weekes on August 12, was promptly sent to the Parliament in accordance with the law. Even with just five days to go before Gary Griffith’s term as CoP was due to end, the Parliament could have prioritised its review of candidates and be ready to have a commissioner installed by August 18.
For reasons not disclosed by Seepersad or the President, but reportedly involving the intervention of a high public official, that list was not sent to Parliament, thereby creating a vacancy in the CoP’s office necessitating the appointment of an acting CoP.
What flowed from the original departure from the Constitution on August 12 was a series of missteps leading to yesterday’s judicial sequel.
In addition to invalidating the appointments of Griffith and Jacob, Justice Kangaloo’s ruling also nullifies a plethora of appointments of acting CoP which were routinely made after the passing of the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Acting Appointments) (Selection Process) (No 2) Order, 2009.
This situation may have continued without challenge ad infinitum if the Government had not decided to go one big step further in June. That was when Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi introduced the very oddly-worded “Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Selection Process) Order, 2021” allowing the PolSC to nominate persons “on contract or previously on contract” to the position of acting CoP.
For reasons that are unclear, both President Weekes and the PolSC interpreted the order to mean they could appoint an acting Commissioner, not once but twice, without reference to Parliament. Justice Kangaloo’s judgment now means that unconstitutional actions twice occurred in trying to fill the CoP vacancy—the first involving the merit list of substantive candidates which went to President’s House on August 12 and, thereafter, the nominees for Acting CoP.
