Integrity Commission formally fires secretary
-following Luncheon intervention
Stabroek News
February 11, 2003
The Integrity Commission has "regularised" the dismissal of its secretary Deonarine Shiwsankar by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, and last week dispatched a letter, firing him with immediate effect.
Chairman of the Integrity Commission, Bishop Randolph George, told Stabroek News that attorney for Shiwsankar, Khemraj Ramjattan, had outlined what the legal requirements were for dismissing Shiwsankar and this was complied with.
He said that the Commissioners met on Tuesday afternoon, deliberated on the issue and dispatched the letter. Asked about the notice due to Shiwsankar, Bishop George said he would be paid in lieu of notice.
Shiwsankar's job was on the line several months ago, Bishop George said, because of "dereliction" of duties. He confirmed that a matter of a personal nature was also one of the reasons for him being fired. Asked whether Shiwsankar was afforded an opportunity to be heard, Bishop George said he was spoken to on several occasions. As to why Dr Luncheon did the firing in the first place, Bishop George said Dr Luncheon was acting on a decision taken by the commission and not acting on his own.
Ramjattan when asked to comment on the issue said if the matter was regularised in accordance with his advice, he was very happy. But he was concerned whether the commission could have dismissed Shiwsankar given that its life came to an end on November 21st following a three-year tenure. He said the commission would not be able to take such decisions outside of its tenure because if this was the case, then the judicial service commission could also make appointments.
Ramjattan has openly criticised Luncheon for what he sees as his interference in the affairs of statutory bodies, his latest being the Shiwsankar's case. On Tuesday Ramjattan dispatched a letter to Luncheon, copied to Bishop George asserting that Shiwsankar's termination (by Luncheon) was null and of no legal effect.
He advised that for Shiwsankar's dismissal to be legal, it had to be done by the Integrity Commission in a proper manner.
Luncheon had written a letter to Shiwsankar on December 31st, 2002, terminating his services from the start of February because of "an irreparable loss of confidence in (his) ability to discharge the responsibility of the Secretary of the Integrity Commission" by the Office of the President. Ramjattan, however, advised his client to continue working, as Luncheon's dismissal was out of order.
Ramjattan in his letter to Luncheon said the Office of the President's loss of confidence in Shiwsankar must first be conveyed to the Integrity Commission which would then have to request the facts and reasons for this opinion. He said if the Integrity Commission found the opinion of the Office of the President to be meritorious, it would inform Shiwsankar of these claims and grant him an opportunity to respond. The Commission would then be tasked with the decision of retaining or dismissing Shiwsankar, a decision, which Ramjattan said, must be in the minutes of the commission's meeting reflecting a quorum.
"...If the above is not done, the seeds of dictatorship can be sown in our institutions and structures all over again. It would mean that through a simple letter telling a Statutory Corporation which person the Office of the President has a loss of confidence in, must result in the removal of that person by the Corporation. It would mean that a Statutory Corporation does not have to have a mind of its own; that its mind must be situated somewhere at the Office of the President rather than at its board meeting," Ramjattan advised Luncheon.
Ramjattan has pointed out that statutory bodies are independent of the Office of the President and as such the Office of the President cannot interfere in their affairs. (Gitanjali Singh)
