New PSC Chairman may have to give up job as Special Prosecutor

President David Granger Wednesday swore in members of the Public Service Commission (PSC) which has been out of operation for approximately one year.

The Commission is responsible for appointing persons to service in public offices and to remove and discipline those persons when necessary.

This new Commission will be chaired by Michael Somersall who says he may have to forgo his other job as a Special Prosecutor of the State in order to focus on his new responsibilities.

Somersall was appointed by the Government as a Special Prosecutor to work on high-profile cases being investigated by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

“When I get there, I will have to see what I have to do. Sometimes the work there [PSC] will be more than what I have to do in the courts,” he explained.

Somersall says he does not believe keeping the two jobs will pose any conflict of interest but he admitted that he may have to “scale down” the legal work.

The other members of the Commission are Geeta Chandan Edmond, Mortimer Livan, Vincent Bowman, Mavis Benn, and Maurice Gajadhar.

In brief remarks to the new PSC members, President Granger charged them to ensure there is an impartial and professional public service, free from political interference.

In 2016, the then Chairman of the PSC, Carvil Duncan was suspended by President Granger pending the outcome of a tribunal which was set up to consider whether he should be removed from the post given that there were several fraud-related charges before him in the courts.

Duncan had challenged the suspension in the High Court and the case was being heard before Justice Franklin Holder who eventually recused himself from the matter after he was berated by Attorney General Basil Williams.