One of the candidates who was short-listed for the post of Commissioner Gary Griffith said he remains “optimistic that concerns being raised as it pertains to the selection process for the Commissioner of Police,” by the Police Service Commission (PSC) “can be rectified,” so that the person selected “does not commence duty with clouds hanging over his head, as this would greatly affect his productivity.”
Griffith says the PSC needs to tell the country whether the person selected came out of the assessment conducted by “KPMG based on the points acquired via the merit list as is required under the Constitution.”
He said in order to ensure that any clouds are removed, President Anthony Carmona needed to verify “if the PSC could have made a decision without a fifth member, hence not having a quorum, as stated by Professor Ramesh Deosaran.”
Deosaran is quoted in a weekend newspaper as saying “it appears that the Commission is not constitutionally constituted and if you only have four members, that does not give you the right to have a quorum. A quorum is a derivative of a full body of Commissioners which we don’t have. So, you can’t just say you have four and go ahead. You have to have five— a real Commission.”
Griffith said the PSC also needed to give the assurance “that at no time did any candidate who did not apply for the post of Commissioner of Police (CoP), was transferred to the CoP short -list.” It is alleged that Dulalchan only applied for the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police. The question of the job of Commissioner came up during the interview.
Griffith said this could not have been done as “there was different criteria, different evaluation and assessments,” for the post of Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner “so one cannot be short-listed if they did not participate in the rigorous process for the shortlisting of the COP.”
The PSC is mandated by law to use the merit list from the firm hired to conduct comprehensive analysis and assessments of the people who apply for the job of Commissioner of Police.
KPMG was retained to do the analysis of the candidates on the basis of a merit point system taking into consideration a number of things including a resume, psychometric testing, a mock media conference, operational report, and a medical evaluation.
He is now calling for the merit list with the points awarded by KPMG to be submitted to the President and that it be made public via the Parliament, so that “the public can be assured that the person selected is the best person for the job.”