The Office of the Leader of the Opposition today denounced the establishment of a tribunal by President David Granger to inquire, investigate and recommend whether Carvil Duncan, Chairman and appointed Member of the Public Service Commission, should be removed from office for inability to discharge his duties.
The office in a statement said: “The establishment of this tribunal was triggered by the institution of certain criminal charges against Mr Duncan. These charges are still pending before a Magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrate’s court. The very Constitution that the President pledges to follow ‘in spirit and letter’ confers upon Mr Duncan a presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court of law.
“Since the charges against Mr Duncan are still pending, the establishment of this tribunal is premature, pre-emptive and repugnant to the very “due process” to which the President says that his Administration is committed.
“Indeed, the establishment of this Tribunal smacks of exactly the opposite: caprice, arbitrariness and witch-hunting. It is public knowledge that Mr Duncan has been a stumbling block at the Public Service Commission, preventing this Administration from dismissing public servants on ethnic and political grounds and blocking the hiring of unqualified cronies.
“The establishment of this tribunal will have a prejudicial impact upon the pending legal proceedings as the President has sent a clear signal to the Presiding Magistrate what outcome the Executive expects.
“In these circumstances, we view the establishment of this tribunal as a travesty of justice and an assault upon constitutional due process and the fundamental rights of Carvil Duncan and the thousands of workers whose interests and welfare he protects”.
