Richard Lord

Nizam Mo­hammed's ap­point­ment as chair­man of the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion has not been re­voked and he has not re­signed. He made that clear, af­ter a 90-minute, face-to-face meet­ing with Pres­i­dent George Maxwell Richards at his St Ann's of­fice yes­ter­day. Mo­hammed was sum­moned to Pres­i­dent's House, af­ter wide­spread con­tro­ver­sy over his state­ment. That state­ment an­gered many cit­i­zens, in­clud­ing Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who told re­porters Mo­hammed's re­marks were "reck­less and di­vi­sive" and was not rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the po­si­tion of the T&T Gov­ern­ment. She said Mo­hammed's fu­ture as head of the PSC was to be de­ter­mined by Pres­i­dent Richards. Op­po­si­tion Leader Dr Kei­th Row­ley al­so met with the Pres­i­dent to dis­cuss Mo­hammed's state­ment. Row­ley said based on the dis­cus­sions, he was con­fi­dent Mo­hammed's ap­point­ment would be re­voked by the Pres­i­dent.

But Mo­hammed has main­tained his in­no­cence, in­sist­ing that he had done noth­ing wrong. Yes­ter­day, he emerged from the meet­ing with the Pres­i­dent say­ing his ap­point­ment was not re­voked. Re­porters ques­tioned Mo­hammed about the meet­ing, from be­hind a wire fence at Pres­i­dent's House.

Re­porter: Mr Mo­hammed, was your ap­point­ment re­voked?

Mo­hammed: No.

Re­porter: So you con­tin­ue to work as chair­man (of the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion)?

Mo­hammed: Yes.

Re­porter: What was the dis­cus­sion about?

Mo­hammed: Well, we were dis­cussing the is­sue that is at hand and the dis­cus­sions are con­tin­u­ing.

Re­porter: Did you come ex­pect­ing that your ap­point­ment was go­ing to be re­voked?

Mo­hammed: No, I didn't come ex­pect­ing that my ap­point was go­ing to be re­voked. I did not do any­thing wrong.

Re­porter: Did the Pres­i­dent agree with you that you did noth­ing wrong?

Mo­hammed: Whether he agrees of not, he hasn't ex­pressed an opin­ion on that.

Re­porter: When will the dis­cus­sions con­tin­ue?

Mo­hammed: I don't know. I don't know. But that is about it. I am, not at lib­er­ty to dis­cuss any­thing.

Re­porter: How do you feel, Mr Mo­hammed?

Mo­hammed: How do I look?

Re­porter: In light of all the con­tro­ver­sy, would you have made your state­ment dif­fer­ent­ly?

Mo­hammed: I would have to think about that...I haven't giv­en it a thought.

Re­porter: Is it a vic­to­ry?

Mo­hammed: I can't say any­thing more.

Re­porter: Are you go­ing to work to­mor­row"

Mo­hammed: As usu­al.

Re­porter: Well, to­mor­row is Sat­ur­day.

Mo­hammed: Yes, I have work to do.

Re­porter: Do you have any plans to re­sign, Mr Mo­hammed?

Mo­hammed did not an­swer but en­tered his car and left.

But sources said yes­ter­day that Mo­hammed was asked to ten­der his res­ig­na­tion by Pres­i­dent Richards.

Sources al­so said that Mo­hammed was giv­en time to con­sid­er the mat­ter. The sources say that was the rea­son for the con­tin­u­a­tion of talks on the mat­ter.

Up to late yes­ter­day, no re­lease on the meet­ing was is­sued from Pres­i­dent's House.

What the peo­ple say

Guardian on-line poll:

Should Nizam Mo­hammed re­sign as chair­man of the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion?