President ready to appoint new Integrity Commission

President Max Richards is ready to appoint a new Integrity Commission for Trinidad and Tobago following consultations with Prime Minister Patrick and Opposition leader Basdeo Panday.

Panday confirmed to the Trinidad Express that he has received a letter from the Office of the President on the matter and will respond when his office reopens on Wednesday. Panday is supporting the two-day national strike and his official office in Port of Spain and his party's headquarters in Couva will remain closed on Tuesday.

Panday told the paper he has his list of potential members to serve on the commission and would advise the president accordingly.

But he admitted that not everyone on the list is willing to serve. He didn't say if he agrees with the president's choices but noted that he doesn't have adequate resources to do all the necessary background checks on prospective candidates.

The country has been without an Integrity commission for six months.

Richards had appointed a commission in April headed by Father Henry Charles but within 10 days every member resigned.

The trouble started on the day that the commissioners took their oath of office when retired judge Zainool Hosein quit after learning that the president reneged on his promise to appoint him as deputy chairman.

Richards handed that post to the executive director of the National Insurance Board, Jeffrey MacFarlane, who was as surprised as Hosein to learn about the decision.

But it turned out that MacFarlane was not qualified to serve because of his connections with state boards, so he quit.

The chairman quit after a conflict between his role and the rules of the church although reports suggested that it had to do with plagiarism for his newspaper column.

The remaining two members quit because the commission lacked a quorum and was unable to function.

Read the story: Integrity Commission chairman resigns; Opposition calls for president's resignation

Richards was out of the country when the resignations came and acting President Danny Montano didn't interfere.

Read the story: Leave it to Max; Acting president won't appoint new Integrity Commission

The opposition as well as independent organizations blamed Richards for the fiasco and demanded his resignation, but in a television broadcast he insisted that resignation was not an option he would consider.

The opposition later tried to bring impeachment proceedings against the president over then matter but that failed when the Speaker of the House of Representatives determined that there were not sufficient grounds to proceed.