Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton is seeking answers from President Irfaan Ali about the constitutional basis for his appointment of Clifton Hicken as the acting Police Commissioner.
Norton’s questions come amid a June 29th letter to him from Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira seeking “meaningful consultation” between him and the President on the appointment of a person to act in the Office of Commissioner of Police pursuant to Article 211 (2) of the Constitution.
The President had appointed Hicken on March 30th this year when there had been no Leader of the Opposition in place nor a chairman of the Police Service Com-mission – both of whom have to be consulted on the appointment. Government officials had said that Ali had employed the Doctrine of Necessity in naming Hicken as the position had become vacant with the retirement of Nigel Hoppie.
In the June 29th letter to Norton, Teixeira said that Ali had considered it his “constitutional duty” to appoint Hicken to act “rather than leave a vacuum in the command and superintendence of the Guyana Police Force”.
In a letter of yesterday’s date, shadow Attorney General Roysdale Forde SC replied to Teixeira on behalf of Norton. He listed several questions which he said Norton needed answers on before there could be meaningful consultation.
“1. Is the President seeking to exercise his Constitutional duty on two separate occasions to appoint Mr. Clifton Hicken `… to act in the office of Commissioner of Police of the Guyana Police Force?’
“2. What was the basis of and the Constitutional provisions which conferred on the President the Constitutional duty that you referred to that he exercised which resulted in the said decision “to appoint Mr. Clifton Hicken to act in the office of Commissioner of Police with effect from the 30th day of March, 2022?’
“3. If indeed, there is no error in your letter with respect to the declaration that the President did in fact consider `it his Constitutional duty to appoint Mr. Clifton Hicken to act in the office of Commissioner of Police, with effect from the 30th day of March, 2022’, can you please indicate the basis and authority for the President to exercise his Constitutional duty again?”
Forde said that the Leader of the Opposition considers the answers to the aforesaid questions as a prerequisite to him engaging in any process of meaningful consultation on the matter.
Further, Forde said that the need for clarity assumes greater significance in light of the institution of two court proceedings. The first challenging the President’s appointment of Hicken and the second, a challenge to the President’s unilateral appointment of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the lawfulness of the Constitution of the Police Service Commission and “connected matters of great Constitutional importance”.
Forde added: “The Leader of the Opposition, in other words, would only consider engaging in meaningful consultation when he is in possession of the answers to the aforesaid questions and has had time to consider them and advise himself further”.
