The Attorney General, Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall has announced that the Government will appeal the High Court’s decision that President Irfaan Ali breached the Constitution when he suspended the Chairman and Commissioners of the Police Service Commission back in 2021.

The Attorney General made the announcement hours after High Court Judge, Justice Gino Persaud handed down the decision on Friday.

Mr. Nandlall said while the case is of no practical importance, the Government will head to the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision.

“The case really has no practical importance anymore. It has been overtaken by time and many of the crucial reliefs that Mr Paul Slowe was claiming fell away with the passage of time, and with the occurrence of several events,” the Attorney General said.

Justice Persaud, in his ruling, explained that President Ali breached the Constitution when he failed to appoint a Tribunal on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission to address the issue of the removal of Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe from the Chairmanship of the Commission, as well as the suspension of his fellow Commissioners.

But the Attorney General is maintaining that there could not have been a Tribunal in the absence of the Judicial Service Commission. He said given the improper conduct of the Commissioners; President Ali was forced to invoke the doctrine of necessity.

Contextualizing the issue, the Attorney General said constitutional office holders are expected to be impartial, however, Mr Slowe and Mr Conway, while serving on the Police Service Commission, openly criticized the Government. He said further to that the Commissioners joined an Opposition filed Court case against the Government.

“Right there you see…an organization that is supposed to be impartial under the Constitution free from political bias choosing to align itself with a group of politicians in a political inspired litigation. Right there, alarm bells ought to be ring, because in my view, that apparent independent organisation, has decided to shed its independence, and to take a political alignment,” the Attorney General submitted.

He said by doing so, the Commissioners disqualified themselves from the Commission.

To compound the situation, Minister Nandlall said it was later discovered that Mr Slowe together with another Commissioner provided consultancy services to the Guyana Police Force to the tune of $10M while serving on the Police Service Commission. He said as a consequence, they faced a number of fraud-related charges. Mr. Slowe and the other parties in that matter have all declared their innocence. The case is ongoing.

“So, now we have moved from political bias, to a pecuniary interest that is repulsive and now, we have moved to charges in the criminal court being instituted against these persons,” AG Nandlall said, while noting that Mr Slowe, at the time, was also slapped with sexual assault charges.

But Justice Persaud, in addressing the issue of the charges laid against Mr Slowe, said the records would show that he was not found guilty of committing any crime, as such, he has the right to the presumption of innocence as set out in the Constitution.

“Mr Slowe has not been convicted of any charges. At the time when he was suspended, he was entitled to that presumption. The mere institution of criminal charges cannot amount to misbehaviour, except and until the person has been adjudged by the competent tribunal. Therefore, the act in reliance of the charges alone cannot be a basis to justify the President’s decision to suspend,” the Judge said.

However, the Attorney General is maintaining that given the plethora of issues confronting the Police Service Commission at the time, including an attempt to promote senior police officers without due process, the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, based on the advice of the Prime Minister, felt he had no other choice to suspend the Commissioners in the absence of a Judicial Service Commission.

“What should a President have done in those circumstances? Allow such a rogue organization to proceed with a course of action that would have had destructive consequences to the Police Force of the country, the municipal authority for the maintenance of law and order in Guyana or he should sit and twiddle is tongue because there is no Judicial Service Commission?” he said.

Justice Persaud, however, ruled that the President’s failure to establish a Judicial Service Commission was no reason to invoke the doctrine of necessity.

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