PSC ‘trying hard’ to select CoP

Speaking yesterday after a swearing-in ceremony at the Office of the President in St Ann’s, Gomes said the PSC negotiated with a local firm and was awaiting Cabinet funding. She said Cabinet allocated $1 million last year, but this was not enough for an efficient selection process.

“I would like the public to be aware, to understand the legislation.

“We are bound by the legislation. It is not just selecting anybody...

we have to go through a particular process, which we are doing, and we have reached to the point where we need Cabinet support on this, and then we can go ahead,” she said.

Asked if there were staffing issues at the PSC, Gomes said it was being restricted right now.

“We have quite a number of interviews, pay packages for several positions are not good enough, so people will not accept offers — so we need those things resolved, because our job is not simply the selection, we also do monitoring and evaluation of the CoP and his deputies, and in order to do that thoroughly, we need to have the support of staff that is competent — and more staff, if we really have to do the kind of investigative work that we need to do to have a safer Trinidad and Tobago and a more accountable TTPS,” she said.