Changes to the process of appointing a Commissioner of Police are not a current priority at this time for the government.
At the Post Cabinet Media Briefing on Thursday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar explained the thinking at this time.
“In the short term, we need to get a substantive Commissioner of Police, and changes to the legislation will take us a little more time, which will then subvert really what is the present law. Certainly, we will consider changes to the law. AG, we have talked about it, but not in the short term. I think in the short term, I really would await the Police Service Commission’s recommendations, which were sent to the President. I will not go and take away the merit list from the President. I will wait for the President to send it to us, and then we bring it to the Parliament in accordance with law.”
The Prime Minister recalled that in 2006, then Prime Minister Patrick Manning, in collaboration with the Basdeo Panday-led opposition, brought legislation that removed the prime ministerial veto and forever changed the process by which the police top brass are appointed.
“I was part of that process, you may remember, when Mr. Manning brought in this new system. And there was something good about it, because before, the Prime Minister had the veto. The Prime Minister would veto any one person. The Prime Minister would say, no. No, you’ll tell me it’s still the Prime Minister’s veto, but not in substance, but in essence because if the Parliament is governed by the Prime Minister’s team, at the end of the day, it will still be so it’s something that we need to look at. But it did give us some more transparency and oversight.”
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said that the legislation that exists now may not be perfect, but it gives more openness to the process.