…Ramjattan hails reinstatement of McBean

MINISTER of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, said justice was served with the reinstatement of Superintendent Simon McBean by the Police Service Commission (PSC).

When asked about the gap and need for promotion, Ramjattan said that issue is not under his ministerial purview, but falls under the PSC. “They would have to make that decision, that decision is not ministerial,” Ramjattan said.

The PSC on Thursday reinstated Simon McBean. He was dismissed without a hearing in 2009 for unauthorised participation in an overseas course.
His course had finished on September 14, 2008, and McBean returned to Guyana with merit in Masters of Science Degree in Global Security and Policing. In 2009, McBean received a letter of dismissal from the secretary of the then PSC. The letter stated that McBean was dismissed with effect from December 25, 2007, for what the PSC described as his unauthorised participation in a master’s degree course in Global Security and Policing at the University of Leicester, UK.

It further stated that he breached proceedings and regulations but did not stipulate what proceedings and regulations were breached. McBean had applied to the Guyana Police Force Administration for study leave but received no response. He then applied for no-pay leave and also received no response.

McBean then applied for annual leave, which was in excess of 100 days and was granted same.

McBean used his annual leave to travel to England; during his time there, he got ill and submitted sick leave and was unable to return to Guyana at the end of his annual leave. He was able to complete his master’s degree. Prior to his dismissal, McBean served 17 years in the Guyana Police Force.

In 2018, Appellate Court judges Rishi Persaud, Arif Bulkan and Rafiq Khan unanimously agreed that it was undisputed that McBean had no hearing, notwithstanding the procedures laid out in the PSC Rules and the Police Disciplinary Act.

In those circumstances, the court allowed his appeal and remitted the matter to the High Court for assessment on quantum of damages and superannuation benefits, which would have accrued; having declared that he had been wrongfully dismissed. No costs were awarded by the court.

Representing McBean were Attorneys Patrice Henry and R. Satram who argued that the dismissal letter was a nullity since the appellant had no hearing despite expressed legislation that outlines the proceedings to be used under the Police Disciplinarily Act, Chapter 17:01.

Representing the PSC and the Attorney General’s Chambers was state Attorney, Judy Stuart-Adonis, who argued that the genesis of Mc Bean’s case is that he would have been a beneficiary of a scholarship in London. Adonis further argued that when McBean left the jurisdiction he had effectively terminated his employment. However, the court unanimously agreed that it was undisputed that he had no hearing and even if he had intended to terminate his employment, it was not consistent with his conduct which showed that he had returned to Guyana and resumed duties with the GPF.

The court held that, even if that was his thinking, the respondent would have affirmed or waived the repudiation of his contract of employment. In the end, it was unanimously agreed by the court that McBean’s dismissal was unlawful.