President Anthony Carmona has hit out against those who interpret the Constitution in a “narrow way,” which he described as a “donkey cart interpretation.” he said so during the closed swearing-in ceremony for the new chairperson of the Police Service Commission, Dr Maria Therese Gomes, at his office in St Ann’s on Thursday.
“I do not believe in limited ‘donkey cart’ interpretation of our Constitution,“ Carmona said, adding that “for far too long, we have been engaging in this type of interpretation.” That was an apparent reference to a lawsuit filed by former head of the public service, Reginald Dumas, who has filed a lawsuit challenging the appointment of two sitting members of the commission—Dr James Armstrong and attorney Roamar Achat-Saney—on their lack of necessary qualifications.
Dumas, in his lawsuit, said the strict requirement for the composition of the PSC was not met when the President appointed former Independent Senator Armstrong and Achat-Saney to the commission. The President said the commission, with other members, Martin George and Addison Khan was “a nice mix of expertise, intellect and experience.” He described Gomes’ appointment as historic as she was the first woman to head the commission.
Carmona said more should be done to empower women and he was committed to place women in leadership positions in various institutions. He said he had always held the firm view that we must continue to engage at all times, a philosophy of inclusively. Carmona said he was in full support of gender equality. Carmona described Gomes as “a woman of steely determination, quiet disposition, a strong heart and soul and an incisive intellect and I think in the circumstances that you will do an excellent job.”
He told Gomes she had “a good team, you have a nice balanced team.” She replaced Prof Ramesh Deosaran, who resigned last August, over his apparent frustration in getting government to change the legislation to allow for an easier process to appoint a Commissioner of Police. Since then, the commission has been unable to meet and the fourth extension of the acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams expires today.
About the new PSC head
Dr Maria Therese Gomes has an extensive social work background. She graduated from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, with a BSc in social work (Honours) in 1995. She obtained her MSc in social policy and planning in developing countries from the London School of Economics and political science, University of London, United Kingdom, in 1995.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University, Washington DC in 2004 with a Masters in social work, and completed her doctorate in social work in 2010 from the same institution.
Over her career she has obtained certification in distance learning, blackboard certification and international studies from Howard University, Washington, DC, and also gained certification in drama and theatre education as well as gender studies (distinction) from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine and Cave Hill respectively.
She has numerous honours, awards and grants accredited to her, inclusive of a grant from the Georgetown-Howard Universities Centre for Clinical and Translational Science Community Engagement and Research Partnership Stimulation Mini Grant in 2012, and the US/India-Howard-Jadavpur Research Initiative Award from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, in 2007.
Gomes has served as lead facilitator, campus-wide educational workshop on human trafficking, Howard University, and has presented on numerous topics including embracing social justice and equality locally and globally; immigration reform and human trafficking at the Howard University Faculty Senate Retreat in 2013; strangers in the homeland: closer examination of the reintegration of foreign offenders at the American Corrections Association, 141st Congress, Kissimmee, Florida in 2011; and addressing involuntary return migration through multi-modal community interventions at the eight Biennial Conference of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2007.
—Information supplied by the Office of the President.