Prime Minister Bruce Golding has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding the appointment of the new Solicitor General by the Public Service Commission (PSC), telling The Gleaner that his administration had "serious concerns" about the processes that were used in the selection.

There has been a stand-off between the Public Service Commission and the Prime Minister over the commission's recommen-dation of Professor Stephen Vasciannie to be the next Solicitor General, following the resignation of Michael Hylton, Q.C., at the end of October. News broke that the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government was opposed to Professor Vasciannie's selection, ostensibly, on grounds that he is not a seasoned advocate.

'Conflict of interest

Commenting on the issue publicly for the first time, Mr. Golding told The Gleaner, on the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Kampala, Uganda, on the weekend, that he had "serious concerns about certain conflict of interest in the whole process of selection that were not properly dealt with."

An informed source said yesterday that Mr. Golding's reference to "conflicts of interest" is in apparent reference to the fact that Douglas Leys, one of the applicants for the job of Solicitor General, had given legal advice against a previous appointment sanctioned by the service commission, and he was subsequently vindicated by a Supreme Court ruling.

Hence, there was the possibility of bias against Leys in the interviewing process.

However, one of the members of the interviewing panel told The Gleaner yesterday that his selection of Professor Vasciannie was based on the fact that he "was at least 30 per cent better than the other candidates".

Written to Opposition

But with the members of the Public Service Commission sticking by their recommendation to Gover-nor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, the Prime Minister told The Gleaner that he has written the Leader of the Opposition on the matter and he will be advising the Governor-General shortly on what course of action will be taken.

While the appointment of a Solicitor General remains in limbo, Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Foster, Q.C., has been acting in the interim.

Golding

Vasciannie