PSC matter settled
Published:Monday | December 8, 2008 | 12:40 PM
The legal dispute over the December 2007 firing of the members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) has ended.
Daisy Coke, Pauline Findlay, Mike Fennel and Edwin Jones had filed a suit against the Prime Minister and the Attorney General over their dismissals.
The other PSC member, Dr Alfred Sangster did not join the suit.
When the matter was called up in the Supreme Court today, the parties declared that they would not be going ahead with it.
Both the former PSC members and the lawyers representing the Prime Minister accepted that it would not be in the nation’s interest to pursue the matter.
The Governor General dismissed the PSC members on December 11 2007, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
However, the Prime Minister had cited the members for misbehaviour. He had said they breached an order from the court to reinstate former deputy solicitor general Lackston Robinson to that post.
This morning, Mr Golding’s lawyers said the recommendation for the termination of the PSC members was not intended to suggest that there was any act of dishonesty, corruption or personal misbehavior among the PSC members.
The former PSC members and the Government also agreed that their working relation had broken down beyond repair.
As a result, they say any association depending on trust would not be possible.
The parties insisted that in all circumstances this would not be conductive to good governance and the national interest.
After their dismissals from the PSC last year, Daisy Coke, Pauline Findlay, Mike Fennel and Edwin Jones claimed they were not guilty of misconduct, which was outlined as the reason for their sacking.
The other PSC member Dr Alfred Sangster agreed with the Prime Minister.
The controversy between the government and the PSC began when the Commission recommended that Professor Stephen Vasciannie be appointed the new Solicitor General to replace Michael Hylton.
It was being alleged that the government favoured former Deputy Solicitor General Douglas Leys for the job.