Please see below full statement from Attorney General Anil Nandlall:
1. A question has arisen in the public domain which I feel compelled to address. It is whether ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป, Acting Commissioner of Police, who is over 55 years old, is eligible to be appointed (substantively) to the Office of Commissioner of Police. Some commentators contend that he cannot.
2. It will be recalled that a legal challenge was brought at the behest of ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป against the appointment of ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป to act in that position. The allegation was that ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฟ. ๐ ๐ผ๐ต๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐น๐ถ did not comply with the Constitution of Guyana in making that appointment.
3. In a detailed and reasoned Judgment, the learned Chief Justice dismissed that challenge and unequivocally affirm that the President acted lawfully and properly in appointing ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป to act in the Office of Commissioner of Police.
4. ๐๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ (๐ฏ) of the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป provides that the Commissioner of Police shall vacate office when he โ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ตโ.
5. Parliament has so prescribed in the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป (๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐) ๐๐ฐ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ. ๐ฎ๐ณ:๐ญ๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ of this Act provides that the retirement age of the Commissioner of Police is 55 years.
6. However and significantly, ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ (๐ฏ) authorises the President to permit the Commissioner of Police to continue in Office but not beyond age 60. The relevant parts of the section reads:
โ2. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆโฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ท๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ [๐ฉ๐ช๐ด] โฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ช๐ง๐ต๐บ-๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ:
๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต โ
(๐ฃ) ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ช๐ง๐ต๐บ-๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ 60 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด, ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ (๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ.โ
7. By letter dated 21st July 2023, acting on the recommendation of the Police Service Commission, His Excellency granted ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป, whose 55th birthday was on the 22nd July 2023, โ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ข ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ.โ
8. Undoubtedly, since his appointment to act in the Office of Commissioner of Police, ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป has been and is the Officer in charge of superintending and commanding the Guyana Police Force. This indubitable state of affairs aligns with the Constitutional definition of Commissioner of Police: โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆโ [as per ๐๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฎ].
9. ๐๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ (๐ฎ) of the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป states:
โโฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญโฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐งโฆโ
10. Having regard to the relevant provisions of the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป and the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป (๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐) ๐๐ฐ๐ and the relevant factual configuration under review, wherein lies the prohibition against the President appointing ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป (substantively) to the post of Commissioner of Police? I conceive none.
11. To the contrary, the conjoint effect of the relevant provisions of the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป and the ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป (๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐) ๐๐ฐ๐ impel to the imminent potentiality of ๐ ๐ฟ. ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป being appointed to that Office. The contention, therefore, that he cannot, is an affront to both common sense and law.
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