President Irfaan Ali has defended his decision to suspend all of the members of the Police Service Commission with plans to set up a tribunal to look into their eventual removal.
In an interview with News Source, President Ali said he has followed the law in the way he has dealt with the Police Service Commission members.
“I’m following the Constitutional process that is outlined in dealing with these matters, and that’s all I am doing. I have no intention of breaching the Constitutional process. There is a Constitutional process in which to deal with all these allegations that have been made against members of the Commission and that is what has been triggered, nothing more than that”, President Ali.
The move by the President to suspend all of the Police Service Commission members and set up a tribunal came on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister had requested the members of the Commission to show cause why they should not be removed because of the Commission’s decision to join a Court case filed by an Opposition Member of Parliament.
That Court case has also been joined by other Service Commissions since it seeks to challenge the government’s decision to have more control of the spending by the Service Commissions, which they believe could impact their independence.
The Police Service Commission members have said that the Commission was forced to join the Court case after the Government refused to provide funding for it to defend itself in another Court case.
The President has been accused of attempting to influence the work of the Police Service Commission.
The suspended Chairman of the Police Service Commission Paul Slowe has said that he is not surprised by the Government’s move to suspend the members.
The life of the current Commission expires in August.
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