Attorney General wants ‘politically biased’ Deputy Solicitor General disciplined

Last Updated on Sunday, 29 January 2017, 21:17 by Denis Chabrol

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams Sunday night admitted that he wants to Deputy Solicitor General, Prithima Kissoon removed from office on grounds of alleged political bias.

He hopes the Public Service Commission (PSC)  would discipline her based on a stack of evidence to support his claim of insubordination.

“Last week, prior to my departure from Guyana for a Council of Legal Education meeting in Jamaica, I instructed the Permanent Secretary of the Attorney General Chambers/Ministry of Legal Affairs to inform the Public Service Commission of the Chambers’ intention to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Ms. Kissoon, and further, to enquire of the PSC’s procedures pertaining to same,” he said in a statement.

Williams said when he returns to Guyana he would reveal evidence to support his accusation. “On my return to Guyana I shall reveal, in greater detail, Ms. Kissoon’s hatred of the change in government,” the Attorney General said.

The Attorney General said, “Our government can no longer continue to sustain the Deputy Solicitor General Ms. Pritima Kissoon’s unrelenting undermining of its cases.”

He accused the Deputy Solicitor General of being “openly supportive” of former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall and the PPPC, making “glaring errors” in cases involving Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

“In cases where His Excellency The President, The Hon. Prime Minister and the Attorney General were sued, Ms. Kissoon deliberately disobeyed the instructions of the Attorney General and Solicitor General with regard to challenging the applications on lack of jurisdiction, thereby causing the matters to be protracted, effectively aiding Mr. Nandlall in saving face,”  Williams  said.

The Deputy Solicitor General has also written to the PSC seeking its intervention in alleged attempts by Williams to chase her out of office.  She has charged that the Attorney General has been deliberating refusing to communicate with her or take her advice on cases.   “In Court matters draft opinions/pleadings are presented to the AG, Mr. Basil Williams, for approval, signature, correction or alteration and even though reminded regularly this is not done or is done so belatedly and at the ninth hour that I have been embarrassed before the Courts or had to resort to my legal acumen to ensure that the State is properly represented,” she said in her letter addressed to the Secretary of the PSC.”

He claims that Kissoon’s salary and benefits are more than GYD$1 million per month ever since she was hired by Nandlall under the PPPC-led administration. Williams’ APNU+AFC coalition has been in power since May 2015, ending 23 unbroken years of the PPPC in government.