By SEAN DOUGLAS Sunday, May 31 2009

OPPOSITION Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday repeated his call for the resignation of President George Maxwell Richards whose televised speech on Friday night left Panday unimpressed.

President Richards had said his error of judgement in appointing an Integrity Commission had not brought his office into disrepute and he saw no need to resign. Panday said Richards was wrong.

Panday said: “He is misjudging the mood of the people and misjudging his own actions.” He said Richards was treating the public with contempt.

Panday said: “He has said nothing to make me change my mind.”

Regarding Richards’ claims of confidentiality, what if any details should he have revealed, Sunday Newsday asked. Panday said Richards should have explained how he could have appointed National Insurance Board (NIB) executive director, Jeffrey Mc Farlane, to the Commission. “He should have known about Mc Farlane because it is included in his CV. President Richards could not possibly have not known.”

Panday accused Richards of now hiding behind the Constitution and protocol.

He said: “The public demands answers. We are living in modern times.”

Panday said Richards had failed to clear the air over Justice Zainool Hosein’s claims he had been promised the deputy chairman post by Richards. “Either he promised him it or he didn’t, and why did he change his mind?” said Panday.

He said the Constitution says the President must make his own choice of Commissioners. “The facts reveal it was not of his choice but the influence of someone, and the fingers are pointing at the Prime Minister,” alleged Panday.

“Now, that, is a breach of the Constitution.”

Panday did not think Richards could now appoint a new Commission. He said: “How can the public have confidence in the new Commission when he flouted the Constitution in the appointments he just made?” Panday said the public would see any new appointments as done under the influence of the Prime Minister.

“I have nothing personal against the President but he can’t function in that capacity anymore without giving rise to serious suspicions about whether he is independent.” He dismissed the President’s defence that “to err is not to act disreputably”. Panday said anyone committing a violent crime might want to use the same excuse to get off the hook. He said that by this statement Richards seemed to be asking everyone to forget it had happened.

Panday said: “We cannot pretend it never happened. That’s the issue he’s failing to recognise.”