Unless the Appointive Committee can reach agreement tomorrow on the second of the two nominees it must recommend to the National Assembly for appointment to the Public Service Commission (PSC), the service commissions are unlikely to be fully constituted until after mid-October.

It is now over three years since the service commissions were last constituted.

The chairman of the PSC is a member of both the Police Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission. The two commissions cannot be constituted until the PSC is in place and elects its chairman. The parliament has already approved the persons recommended for appointment to them after consultations with the relevant interest groups.

The PSC is not represented on the Teaching Service Commission, and this body is not subject to the Appointive Committee consultation process.

The May 6 communique says that the President and the Leader of the Opposition “agreed that immediate steps are being taken to have all the outstanding Constitutional Commissions appointed including the Service Commissions.”

Parliament is due to go into recess after its sitting tomorrow until October 10 and that would be the last opportunity for the Appointive Committee to meet and agree on the names of the two persons nominated by the Guyana Public Service Union, the Federated Union of Government Employees and the Public Service Senior Staff Association (PSSA) for its consideration. Stabroek News understands that there is consensus on one of the two names that the committee will recommend to the National Assembly. It still has to find consensus on the second, and it is likely that the government would use its majority on the committee to recommend the nominee of the PSSA.

The government had already used its majority in the National Assembly to have the PSSA included as one of the organisations that the committee should consult.

The nomination process for the Teaching Service Commission is outside the remit of the Appointive Committee. It is the responsibility of the President and the Minister of Local Government. Stabroek News has been unable to ascertain if the process for constituting the commission has been fully initiated. The President has to consult with the Leader of the Opposition in appointing three members of the commission. He also has to consult with the Guyana Teachers’ Union in appointing one member of the commission as mentioned above.

When Stabroek News last checked an official of the Ministry of Local Government said that there had been no direction for it to initiate the consultations with the local government bodies on the two persons the minister is to nominate.

In terms of the Police Service Commission the President not only has to consult with the Leader of the Opposition on the appointment of a chairman from among the four members nominated by the Police Associations, he also has to consult him on the appointment of three other members.

In terms of the Judicial Service Commission, the President is also required to consult with the Leader of the Opposition on the appointment of a member of the commission from among persons who hold or have held office as a judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction in civil or criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth, or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from such courts.

The constitution sets out the requirements the President must fulfil in carrying out the consultations with the Leader of the Opposition. These requirements include the President writing to the Leader of the Opposition informing him of the subject matter of the consultation and the intended date for the decision to be made. The President is also required to afford the Leader of the Opposition a reasonable opportunity to express his considered opinion and he must have prepared and archived a written record of the consultation and sent him a copy of the record of his decision. Stabroek News was unable to ascertain whether or not the President had initiated this process.