Government expects Parliament to be presented with candidates for a substantive Commissioner of Police within three months. So said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during a press conference, prior to his departure for a Caricom meeting in Belize yesterday.
Dr Rowley will spend the next two days at the 27th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom where T&T will spearhead discussions on regional security. Finance Minister Colm Imbert will act as Prime Minister in Dr Rowley’s absence.
Dr Rowley said he expects that over the next week Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon will send a request to the Police Service Commission (PSC) to trigger the process to begin advertising for a Police Commissioner. He said he hoped many qualified candidates will respond. He also expressed hope that the process wouldn’t “drag on” and that Parliament will have candidates before it in two or three months.
“My government does not believe that the current arrangement allows for an appropriate and sustained response to the criminal element and the post must be filled by a substantive candidate.”
Dr Rowley said when Parliament convenes on Friday the nomination of attorney Dinanath Ramkissoon to the Police Service Commission (PSC) by President Anthony Carmona will be before the house. Ramkissoon was initially nominated as a member of the PSC last June but was not confirmed in the position.
He said Parliament would also look at completing the legislation for the Children’s Bill, which has passed through the Legislative Review Committee and Cabinet. Cabinet will meet in Tobago on March 3 at the Magdalena Grand, followed by a government retreat that same weekend.