Trinidad PSC Disband Calls: What Happens Next

The President's House in Port of Spain, seen from the Botanical Gardens in September 2010; the President appoints the members of the service commissions (Photo: Albert Sydney, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO · WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Trinidad PSC disband calls face a steep climb, because abolition needs two-thirds of all members of both houses of Parliament. Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan made the call on 15 October, after winning a Privy Council appeal in a prison officer’s pay case.

For US readers, the question is how fast the rules for a Caribbean energy exporter’s civil service could change. This piece sets out the legal route, the vote count and the other paths open to the government.

Readers who want the case itself can start with Trinidad Public Service Commission Privy Council Ruling, which sets out what the judges decided. The government’s recent ministry changes are in Trinidad Cabinet Realignment Moves Housing Schemes.

What the Trinidad PSC Disband Calls Ask For

Ramlogan made three separate asks in a statement carried by the Express and a second Port of Spain daily. He wants the six commissioners to resign, the Prime Minister to review the commission’s constitutional necessity, utility and function, and abolition as part of wider constitutional reform.

Ramlogan was the winning counsel, so the statement is advocacy, and his charges that the commission manipulates promotions and tolerates discrimination are allegations. The court’s own criticism came from Lord George Leggatt and was aimed at the commission’s handling of one officer’s case.

In September 2025, after a Privy Council ruling for a retired fire officer, Siewnarine Ramsaran, Ramlogan called for the commissioners to resign and for a review of the commission’s purpose and status. The new statement adds the call for abolition, so it is a second round, not a first.

Stollmeyer’s Castle, one of the Magnificent Seven historic buildings beside Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, photographed in January 2014. (Photo: Grueslayer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

How the Constitution Governs the Commission

Section 120 of the Constitution creates the commission with a Chairman, a Deputy Chairman and two to four other members. The President appoints them after consulting the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Section 121 gives the commission the power to appoint, promote, transfer, confirm and discipline the public officers it covers. Abolishing it would therefore mean writing those powers into a new body, not simply closing an office.

Under section 126, members serve five years, or a shorter term of at least three. The President may remove a member only for inability to do the job or for misbehaviour, so a call to resign is moral pressure, not a legal order.

The call targets the Public Service Commission only. The Police, Teaching, and Judicial and Legal Service Commissions are separate bodies, as the Trinidad Guardian has set out.

The Votes Needed to Abolish the Commission

Section 54(2) says a bill altering sections 116 to 125 cannot pass unless two-thirds of all members of each House back it at the final vote. The commission’s founding sections, 120 and 121, sit inside that range.

The House has 41 seats, so 28 votes are needed, and the Senate has 31 members, so 21 are needed. Both figures are our arithmetic from the Constitution and the 41 electoral districts counted by the Elections and Boundaries Commission.

The United National Congress (UNC), Persad-Bissessar’s party, won 26 House seats in April 2025, a result the electoral commission confirmed after three recounts. The People’s National Movement (PNM), which lost power then, took 13, and the Tobago People’s Party (TPP), a regional party, took two.

The UNC would need at least two opposition votes in the House on top of its own 26. In the Senate the Prime Minister advises 16 of the 31 appointments, so five more yes votes would have to come from the six opposition senators or the nine independents.

Keith Rowley, then prime minister, announced in 2023 a plan to scrap all service commissions in favour of one tribunal for public servants’ complaints. The sources reviewed do not show that plan was carried out, and the present government’s view of it is not known.

Four Paths the Dispute Could Take

This section is our analysis, not reported government plans, and the first path is no formal action, which leaves the commission in place until its members’ terms end. Ramlogan’s call would then stay what it is now, a lawyer’s public demand.

The second path is the Prime Minister’s review that Ramlogan asked for, which needs no parliamentary vote. A review could end in a report, a consultation or silence, and no source reviewed says which is likely.

The third path is a constitutional amendment bill, which would need the two-thirds votes described above in both houses. That makes it the slowest route and the one most dependent on cooperation between government and opposition.

The fourth path is a narrower fix inside the existing system, such as changes to how the commission handles pay and reinstatement cases. No source reviewed says any such change is planned, so this is a possibility, not a proposal.

What the Judgment Itself Requires Now

The Privy Council allowed Favianna Gajadhar’s appeal, so the High Court declaration that the State breached her property right stands again. The Express says she was paid backdated salary in May 2024, after Justice Frank Seepersad’s 2023 judgment.

The court’s case page names the Attorney General, not the commission, as respondent, so the ruling is formally against the State. The same page lists a question on a 50 percent costs reduction, and the coverage reviewed does not say how it was settled.

Neither the Attorney General’s office nor the commission has publicly responded in the coverage reviewed. Any payment beyond the 2023 awards is not mentioned.

What It Means for You

For US investors and companies hiring in Trinidad and Tobago, the near-term effect of the Trinidad PSC disband calls is limited, because abolition would need a long parliamentary process. Public-sector hiring, promotion and discipline continue under the current rules.

The case also shows that the Privy Council still acts as a final check on how the State treats its own staff, which many foreign firms value. Anyone dealing with ministries should expect formal procedures and slow appeals, whatever happens to the commission.

Background on the islands is in Trinidad and Tobago Explained: Gas, Politics, the Two Islands and What to Watch. The wider regional picture is in Trinidad and Tobago and Its Neighbours in the Caribbean.

What Is Not Known

The sources reviewed contain no reply from the Prime Minister, the Attorney General or the commission to Ramlogan’s call. They also do not show whether the government backs abolition or plans any bill.

Seat counts come from the April 2025 election results, and later changes in party strength were not checked. The Constitution text opened is the consolidated version on the government’s laws website, and the one later amendment found, Act No. 6 of 2025, changes only section 17 on citizenship.

The fate of the 2023 plan to replace the service commissions with one tribunal is not documented in the sources reviewed. The full Privy Council judgment text was not available, so the reasons come from the court’s case page and newspaper accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Trinidad and Tobago abolish the Public Service Commission?

Yes, but only by a constitutional amendment backed by two-thirds of all members of each House. That means 28 of 41 House members and 21 of 31 senators.

Who is calling for the commission to be disbanded?

Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, a former attorney general, made the call on 15 October after winning the Privy Council case. His claims about promotions and discrimination are allegations, not court findings.

Can the commissioners be forced to resign?

Not by a public call, because the Constitution lets the President remove a member only for inability or misbehaviour. Otherwise a member’s term runs five years, or a shorter period of at least three.

Has the government responded to the call?

No response from the Prime Minister, the Attorney General or the commission has been found as of 16 October. The government’s position on abolition is not known.

What did the Privy Council decide on 12 October?

It allowed Favianna Gajadhar’s appeal and restored a finding that her salary was withheld unlawfully for 15 years. The court’s case page names the Attorney General as respondent.

Does this affect US investors in Trinidad and Tobago?

Not directly in the short term, because abolition would take a long parliamentary process. The ruling does show that the Privy Council still reviews how the State treats its own staff.

Sources: Trinidad Express, 16 October 2026; Trinidad Guardian, 16 October 2026; Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, case JCPC/2025/0085; Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, sections 40, 54, 120, 121 and 126; Elections and Boundaries Commission, 2025 results; Elections and Boundaries Commission, recount of 5 May 2025; Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2025; Trinidad Guardian, 26 September 2025. No prediction market with meaningful trading on this topic was found.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error