Senior Political Reporter
Government Senate Leader Darrell Allahar has expressed concern over the failure of public service commissions, citing partisanship and politics “masquerading under the cloak of independence” and warning of a “deep state PNM thing” at play.
Allahar raised the issue during Senate debate on a bill to create a Small Claims Court in the Civil Division of the judiciary, which will handle small-valued claims related to estate administration and similar matters. He said he hopes the matter of commissions’ failure to hire staff returns to Parliament for further discussion. “Because we cannot continue like this. It is absolute collapse,” he said.
The bill, with amendments, was unanimously approved by Government, Opposition PNM, and Independent senators.
The term “deep state” is often used to describe unauthorised or secret networks operating within governments independent of political leadership, perceived as opposing a government’s agenda or pursuing their own policies.
Allahar noted staffing problems within the commissions over the years, saying clauses in the bill allowing staff to be hired on contract arose because of the failure of the service commission system under the Constitution. He said the legislation uncovered “a deep Constitutional difficulty” and gives someone the authority to hire staff on contract for five years.
He added that the government has a duty to assist the judiciary—another arm of the state—by enabling it to hire staff when service commissions fail to do so. “It’s as simple as that,” he said. “I hope it’s something that comes back here (in Parliament) for us to reflect upon further because we cannot continue like this. It is absolute collapse.”
Allahar also highlighted how appointments to the commissions can be influenced by politics. “There are other reasons for that. I’m not going to say more, but everybody knows there’s ‘the ghost in the machine’ and sometimes you have partisanship and politics masquerading under the cloak of independence. I wouldn’t say more about that, but that’s how it is—it’s a ‘deep state PNM thing’ going on sometimes,” he said.
