ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE AND RULES OF PROCEDURE

      (Adopted on 16 January , 2007 and as amended on 10 April, 2007) 

1. Organizational Structure

1. Commission of Inquiry

The Commission of Inquiry comprises the Chairman of the Commission and seven (7) other Commissioners.

All officers of the Commission and its consultants shall come under the direction and supervision of the Commission. 

2. Secretariat of the Commission of Inquiry

The Commission of Inquiry shall have a Secretariat.

The Secretariat of the Commission shall be headed by a Secretary appointed by the President.

The Secretary shall come under the direction and supervision of the Commission.

The Commission shall assign functions to the Secretary.

It will be the responsibility of the Secretary to provide the following and any other facility or service as may be from time to time required by the Commission.

1. Logistical requirements including venue of Sessions of Inquiry, office rooms, stationary, transport, and secretarial assistance.
2. Financial resources (arranged through the Presidential Secretariat)
3. Subordinate staff
4. Wages and Allowances
5. Interpretation and Translation Services
6. Recording of proceedings and preparation of transcripts
7. Any other facility or service to be provided as may be directed by the Commission.

3. Counsel from the Official Bar

The Commission of Inquiry shall have a Panel of Counsel.

The Panel of Counsel shall be headed by a Lead Counsel.

The Panel of Counsel shall comprise officers of the Attorney General’s Department .

The Panel of Counsel shall be appointed by the Commission based on nominations of the Attorney General.

The Lead Counsel shall be appointed by the Commission on nominations of the Attorney General.

It shall be the responsibility of the Lead Counsel to manage the Panel of Counsel and to ensure that Counsel perform functions entrusted to them by the Commission.

Counsel shall be assigned functions by the Commission and shall be supervised by the Commission. 

It shall be the responsibility of the Panel of Counsel to attend to the following:

1. Assist the Commission in supervising, guiding and advising the conduct of investigations.
2. Assist the Commission by presenting evidence at Sessions of Inquiry
3. Assist the Commission by advising on questions of law.
4. Suggesting to the Commission further investigations and inquiries to be conducted.
5. Any other matters assigned to the Panel of Counsel by the Commission.

1.3A Counsel from the Unofficial Bar

The Commission shall have Counsel from the Unofficial Bar to assist the Commission. Such Counsel shall be appointed by the Commission from amongst Attorneys at Law of the Unofficial Bar. The Commission may stipulate functions to b performed by such Counsel. Such Counsel shall be supervised by and report directly to the Commission. The Secretary shall provide necessary assistance to such Counsel. 

Unless otherwise specified or specifically provided for, a reference in any of the documentation of the Commission, to the ‘Panel of Counsel’ shall be deemed to be a reference to the ‘Counsel from the Official Bar’. 

4. Panel of Investigators

The Commission of Inquiry shall have a Panel of Investigators .

The Panel of Investigators shall be headed by a Chief Investigator.

The Investigators shall be Police Officers.

The Panel of Investigators shall be appointed by the Commission selected from nominations of the Inspector General of Police.

The Chief Investigator shall be appointed by the Commission and shall be responsible for the overall management of the Panel of Investigators.

The Investigators will function under the supervision and direction of the Commission.

Investigating Officers will be released by the Police Department on a full time basis to work for the Commission.

It shall be the responsibility of the Panel of Investigators to conduct investigations into incidents referred to the Panel by the Commission. 

5. Security Unit

The Commission of Inquiry shall have a Security Unit.

The Security Unit will provide security and protection to the Commission of Inquiry, its Commissioners, officers of the Commission.

The Security Unit shall be headed by a Chief Security Officer.

The Chief Security Officer and other Security Officers of the Unit shall be appointed by the Commission on nominations primarily by the Inspector General of Police, and where necessary from nominations of the Commanders of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. 

6. Victim and Witness Assistance and Protection Unit.

On the direction of the Commission, the Victim and Witness Protection Unit will provide necessary protection and assistance to victims and witnesses.

On the direction of the Commission, the Unit shall be responsible for protecting victims and witnesses from possible intimidation, harassment and retaliation.

The Unit shall provide necessary protection and other assistance to victims and witnesses, with the view to ensuring that such victims and witnesses have a conducive environment in which they could appear before the Commission and provide testimony to the Commission without fear of possible intimidation, harassment or retaliation. 

7. Panel of Expert Consultants

The Commission of Inquiry shall have a Panel of Expert Consultants.

The Panel shall include experts in the fields of Forensic Pathology, Clinical Forensic Medicine, Forensic Analysis of Firearms and Ballistics, Forensic Chemical Science, Clinical Psychology, Forensic Examination of Suspect Documents, and Surveying.

The Commission shall identify and appoint experts to the Panel of Experts, enabling their expertise to be obtained as and when the need arises.

The Consultants shall not be permanently assigned to the Commission. 

2. Rules of Procedure
2.1 On the advice of the Commission, the Secretary shall as and when the need arises issue public announcements to be published in the media notifying the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry , its terms of reference and calling on the Public to provide information that may lead to successful investigation and inquiry regarding the matters stipulated in the Warrant of the Commission of Inquiry. 

2.2 Upon receipt of information from the Public, the Secretary shall submit such information to the Commission for consideration and decision on necessary action to be taken. 

2.3 Upon receipt of information, the Commission shall consider such information and decide on investigations that should be conducted.

If a decision is taken to conduct investigations, the Commission shall instruct the Panel of Investigators to conduct such investigations as the Commission may deem appropriate. 

2.4 The Commission shall require the Inspector General of Police to make available to the Commission a report on each criminal investigation already conducted into the 15 incidents referred to in the Schedule of the Warrant.

The reports shall contain the name of the investigating agency , identities of the investigators, synopsis of the investigations conducted, material collected, observations and comments of the investigators and current status of the investigations and judicial proceedings. 

2.5 Upon the receipt of reports referred to in paragraph 4 above, the Commission shall consider the said reports and call for the relevant Information Book Extracts pertaining to the conduct of the investigations.

Where appropriate, the original notes of investigation may be called for, received and considered by the Commission.  

The Commission may also consider issuing notice on the relevant Chief Investigating Officer to appear before a Session of Inquiry, and testify regarding the conduct of the investigation. The purpose of such testimony shall be to determine the future course of investigations to be conducted by the Commission regarding the respective incidents. 

2.6 Following a consideration of information provided by the Public and a consideration of investigations already conducted into an incident, the Commission may instruct the Panel of Investigators to conduct necessary further investigations into such incidents.

Such investigations shall be conducted under the supervision of the Commission. 

2.7 Following the completion of initial investigations, the Commission shall conduct Sessions of Inquiry into the relevant incidents.

During such Sessions of Inquiry, witnesses shall be examined through oral testimony.

Where necessary, documents and other items, will also be produced before the Commission during such Sessions. 

2.8 Based on evidence adduced during Sessions of Inquiry and / or upon a consideration of other material available to the Commission of Inquiry including investigational findings, the Commission may instruct the Panel of Investigators to conduct such further investigations as may be required. 

2.9 Where necessary, the Commission may require a Consultant of the Panel of Consultants or such other Expert to conduct an examination into or of any person, body, item, document or any other matter. 

3. Committees of the Commission
3.1 Commissioners of the Commission of Inquiry shall meet either as the entire Commission or as members of Committees. All Sessions of Inquiry shall be held before the entire Commission of Inquiry with all Commissioners participating. There shall be the following Committees.

a) Administrative Committee

b) Investigation Supervision Committees 

3.2 The Administrative Committee shall supervise the work of the Secretariat of the Commission.

The Administrative Committee shall comprise the Chairman of the Commission and two other Commissioners appointed by the Commission of Inquiry. 

3.3 There shall be two Investigation Supervision Committees comprising three Commissioners each.

Such Committees shall be appointed by the Commission of Inquiry.

The Commission of Inquiry shall assign investigations into particular incidents to be supervised by such Investigation Committees. 

The foregoing Organizational Structure and the Rules of Procedure of the Commission of Inquiry, may be amended from time to time at future meetings of the Commission of Inquiry. 

Nothing in the aforementioned Organizational Structure and the Rules of Procedure of the Commission of Inquiry, shall be construed to derogate from the generality of the powers conferred on this Commission Inquiry in terms of the Commission of Inquiry Act.