Panday unimpressed, says Max must go

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday is not impressed with the explanation that President Max Richards offered the nation in an address Friday night. And he said Saturday the only option is for Richards to resign.

Panday has been the leading voice against Richards over the Integrity Commission fiasco. On Friday Richards apologized for an "error in judgment" in the matter but dismissed calls for his resignation, saying that would not resolve the problem.

He insisted that contrary to what his critics have been saying he has not brought his office into disrepute. But Panday is standing firm. He said, “He (Richards) is misjudging the mood of the people and misjudging his own actions,” adding that the president is treating citizens with contempt.

The former prime minister told the Newsday newspaper Richards should have explained how he could have appointed National Insurance Board (NIB) executive director, Jeffrey McFarlane, to the Commission.

“He should have known about Mc Farlane because it is included in his CV. President Richards could not possibly have not known,” Panday insisted.

The real problem with the Integrity commission began on May 1, the day the president administered the oaths of office to the five members. He made an about turn and appointed McFarlane as deputy chairman of the commission when he had made a commitment to hand that position to retired appeal court judge Zainool Hosein.

Richards offered no explanation and even McFarlane was taken by surprise when he learned that he was to be the deputy. What was worse is that under the provisions of the Integrity in Public Life legislation McFarlane could not even be a commissioner because of his connections to various statutory boards.

The paper reported that Panday said Richards failed to explain the circumstances that led him to renege on a commitment to Hosein. “Either he promised him it or he didn’t, and why did he change his mind?” asked Panday.

He insisted that contrary to what Richards would like the public to believe Richards did not make his choices independently. “The facts reveal it was not of his choice but the influence of someone, and the fingers are pointing at the Prime Minister,” Panday said, adding that that is a beach of the Constitution.

The Couva North MP said Richards has lost the moral and constitutional authority to appoint a new commission. “How can the public have confidence in the new Commission when he flouted the Constitution in the appointments he just made?” Panday said.

“I have nothing personal against the President but he can’t function in that capacity anymore without giving rise to serious suspicions about whether he is independent.” And he dismissed the President’s defence that “to err is not to act disreputably”.

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Panday said: “We cannot pretend it never happened. That’s the issue he’s failing to recognise.”

Source: Newsday
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