Parliamentary committee urged to speed up selection of Police Service Commission nominees

State Minister Joseph Harmon has said that the National Assembly’s Appointments Committee, headed by Dr. George Norton, has been urged to speed up the process for the selection of nominees for the Police Service Commission (PSC).

The PSC is still to be reconstituted since the tenure of the previous appointees expired last August.

Harmon told a post-Cabinet meeting that the parliamentary committee has met. “They are required to make their recommendations to the National Assembly and then those recommendations come to the president,” he noted. “We have urged that the National Assembly give this more attention so that we can have the PSC constituted in the very shortest possible time,” he added.

According to the Constitution, the Commissioner of Police is to be appointed by the president acting after consultation with the Police Service Commission.

The former Commissioner Seelall Persaud officially retired last Monday and his successor has not yet been identified.

Harmon said that the president will look at all the circumstances and “will in the right time” make an appointment.

Harmon believes that the decision will be an easy one as there are many officers in the police force who can be an “excellent fit” for the role of  Commissioner of Police.