No racial imbalance on state boards, says acting Trinidad PM

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Acting prime minister, and minister of works and transport, Jack Warner, has disputed suggestions from some quarters that there is an ethnic imbalance reflected on State-appointed boards in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Trinidad Express reported that, following a visit to his alma mater, Presentation College, Chagunas, on Tuesday, Warner said he was involved in the selection process for every single State board.


Acting prime minister, and minister of works and transport, Jack Warner
"I would not have taken part if I was not convinced that they were equally distributed," Warner said.

"In fact over the years people have been neglected for so long that (to some there may seem to be) a kind of disparity. But by and large, this has been the prime minister's mantra,” he said. "In every board selected, the PM has insisted that the board should be a reflection of the society. That has been her mantra.”

Calls for government to look at the ethnic composition of State boards have arisen in the wake of the statement made by Nizam Mohammed, who had his appointment as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) revoked by President George Maxwell Richards on Monday.

Meanwhile, Mohammed is seeking to mount a unprecedented legal challenge against Richards' decision to terminate his appointment. Mohamed told the Guardian newspaper that he was seeking legal advice with a view to taking action.

There is a big hurdle because, under the existing constitution, the actions of the president cannot be challenged in a court of law. But Mohammed, who is also an attorney, said, “I do not believe that anyone, including the president, is above the constitution and can act in a manner that is detrimental to any individual."

Mohammed said that he was baffled by the undue haste under which the president acted, and added, "I am amazed, since we were seeking a legal opinion.”

The former PSC chairman said, "They fired me for trying to give everybody equal opportunities within the Police Service, regardless of their ethnic origin."

He said that he was appointed chairman of the PSC to reorganise the Police Service so that “it will become efficient and effective in protecting members of the public against the scourge of crime that we are witnessing."