FORMER Director of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD), and current Chairman of the National Accreditation Council, Mohandatt Goolsarran, has been nominated along with Janice Isabella Bowen as the two members nominated by the National Assembly to be appointed members of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Goolsarran confirmed the nomination and expressed his pleasure at being nominated.

“Someone spoke to me about my willingness to offer public service and I said yes, I am always willing to offer public service. I welcome it as an opportunity to offer my services,” Goolsarran commented in a telephone interview.

Goolsarran is also a full-time faculty member at the University of Guyana, lecturing in Mathematics.

The Parliamentary Committee of Appointments nominated the pair in accordance with Article 200(1)(B) of the Constitution, which provides for two of the six constitutional members of the PSC to be nominated by the National Assembly.

Article 200(1) provides for the PSC to consist of six members, three of whom are appointed by the President following meaningful consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, two to be nominated by the National Assembly, and the remaining member to be nominated by the President in accordance with his deliberate judgment.

Article 135(1) of the Constitution provides for the creation of the PSC, with the composition and functions of the PSC set out in Articles 200 to 205.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is a constitutional body overseeing the Public Service in Guyana. The constitution empowers the body to make appointments of persons to public offices and remove and exercise disciplinary control over such persons.

Guyana has not had a PSC since the life of the last PSC came to an end in August 2021.

The functioning of the PSC is crucially important as it further affects the composition and work of several other constitutional bodies, including the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission.

The Chairman of the PSC is also a member of the Police Service Commission and the Judicial Service Commission.