Bas wants to know why President Richards fired Nizam as chairman of PSC

Basdeo Panday wants "legitimate reasons" from President Max Richards to explain why Richards fired Nizam Mohammed from his post as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

The former Prime Minister made the call Wednesday at a forum on Equality and Diversity in Trinidad and Tobago hosted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the Department of Engineering, University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine.

Panday told his audience he has read the transcript of the Hansard report of what Mohammed said before the Joint Select Committee of Parliament, noting that at no time did no Mohammed say there are too many Africans in the Police Service. 

Former Prime Minister Patrick Manning has made that claim against Mohammed in one of his recent lectures. He claimed that by stating that there are too many Africans in the police service Mohammed was targeting an entire group.

Panday said, “Up to this day, the President has not given reasons for dismissing Mohammed" and suggested that he has not done so because there was no reason for him taking the decision.

"It’s not what he said, it’s the way he said it. They were all looking for an excuse not to support Nizam or for justification to punish him for daring to raise this issue,” Panday stated.

The President fired Mohammed on April 14 following his comments that there is an ethnic imbalance in the hierarchy of the police service. He also said he was committed to changing that situation.

Panday got support in his position from Gregory Aboud, President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (Doma). Aboud told participants citizens deserve to get specific reasons for Mohammed’s dismissal.

“I feel very strongly about that," Aboud said, adding, "There must be total transparency.”

Another seminar participant, Senior Counsel Israel Khan, expressed concern about what he said is an ethnic imbalance in the country's armed force as well as the police service.

“I do not know the reasons why the Police Service has so little East Indians," he added. "Yaybe they do not meet the criteria. Whatever the reasons, it is important that the Police Service Commission launch an inquiry.

Khan said, “What happened in Rwanda, Fiji, Uganda can happen here. It is dangerous in a plural society to have one ethnic group control the arms and ammunition, be it East Indians or Africans,” he said.