The Public Service Commission (PSC) has recommended Vasciannie for the job but the Attorney General and perhaps even the Prime Minister himself apparently are saying not so fast. From all accounts, the commission normally provides a recommendation to the Governor General who makes the appointment. Yet, Bruce Golding, the Prime Minister, apparently can still raise objections, as the Governor General must consult with him prior to making the appointment.
While the Prime Minister has not officially rejected the PSC’s recommendation, the fact is that the position is still unfilled after several months and there are now reports that the Prime Minister has expressed no confidence in the five-member body of the PSC and even asked the members for their voluntary resignations.
Vasciannie is currently a professor of International Law at University of the West Indies (UWI) and has been working part time for several years as Deputy Solicitor General in the Attorney General's Chambers. He was head of the Department of Government at UWI from 2003 to 2006 and he is both a Rhodes scholar and a Commonwealth scholar.
His impressive resume is printed in its entirety elsewhere in this newsletter. We have also published in this newsletter a letter from Hilaire Sobers, a Jamaican attorney-at-law on the impasse between the PSC and the Government over Vasciannie’s appointment. Sobers presents the case that Stephen Vasciannie should be appointed as Jamaica’s next Solicitor General and that the government could be in violation of the constitution if it fails to do so.
KC Old Boys in Atlanta will recall that Vasciannie was the guest speaker and an honoree at the annual Reunion and Awards Banquet held in Atlanta in 2004. Those of us who know Stephen have no doubt that he would make an outstanding Solicitor General and we fully support him in his quest to serve Jamaica with honor and distinction.
