Govt to rehire persons wrongfully dismissed by APNU/AFC – Nandlall

Former Deputy Solicitor General Prithima Kissoon, who successfully took the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government to court over their withholding of her salary, is back at the Attorney General Chambers.

When contacted by this publication, Attorney General Anil Nandlall confirmed that the Government rehired Kissoon soon after they took office in August. He noted that the former APNU/AFC Government had no reason whatsoever to want Kissoon dismissed.
“Ms Kissoon served, with distinction, for a number of years. And for no good reason, she was hounded out of office. I didn’t dismiss anyone, but I rehired Ms Kissoon because she was willing to work and she is a good worker,” the Attorney General said.
“She is the Public Trustee and Official Receiver. She’s doing a lot of other work, advising me on a whole host of other legal issues,” Nandlall said, adding that as far as possible, persons who were wrongfully dismissed under the former APNU/AFC Government, will be rehired by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration.
Kissoon, who was working out of the Legal Affairs Ministry, was sent on administrative leave in 2017 with the permission of the Public Service Commission (PSC), but later found that the Legal Affairs Ministry’s Permanent Secretary objected to her leaving the country while on leave and had taken a decision to withhold her salary.
The debacle came to the public’s attention when Kissoon lodged a formal complaint to the PSC against the then Attorney General Basil Williams. What followed was a very public spat between Williams and his Deputy Solicitor, which came to a finale in August 2017, when Kissoon was dismissed mere hours before the life of the PSC came to an end.
Kissoon subsequently took the Government to court over the withholding of her salary. Last year, Chief Justice Roxane George ruled against the former Government, finding that by withholding her salary, the then Administration deprived her of her fundamental rights.
In her ruling, Justice George noted that the Permanent Secretary of the Legal Affairs Ministry overreached and exceeded authority by withholding Kissoon’s salary. Justice George pointed out in her ruling that it was the PSC that had sent Kissoon on administrative leave and thus, the Permanent Secretary could not usurp the Commission’s role in handing out punitive measures.
The court also noted that the AG Chamber’s advice to the Permanent Secretary to withhold Kissoon’s salary seemed to be aimed at punishing her. Besides Kissoon’s salary, the Chief Justice also ordered the Permanent Secretary to pay costs in the sum of $500,000. (G3)

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