The Government has “targeted” people for the post of Commissioner of Police (CoP) and Deputy CoP and names being heard in connection with this include DCP Harold Phillip, Snr Supt McDonald Phillip and ACP Vincel Edwards, says Opposition Senator Wade Mark.
“People are telling us these are some of the elements they (government) have in mind to become CoP and deputy CoP... tell us... we have been hearing names about who Government may be seeking to promote, they must deny it,” Mark said in the Senate yesterday.
This occurred during debate of an Opposition motion to annul Government’s December 2015 Orders on the selection process for a CoP and deputy CoP.
A similar motion was debated by Government and Opposition in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. When debate concluded at 12.30 am yesterday, the motion failed due to Government’s majority votes against it.
In yesterday’s Senate debate on the issue, Mark told the Government: “Go ahead, pass it (Orders). At the end of the day, the court will determine if you are right or wrong... you may have the majority here and defeat us but we will go to the Supreme Court and the Privy Council... there is the Privy Council. We will support retention of the Privy Council as we feel we will get fairness there.”
Saying the Opposition was not against a local CoP or deputy CoP, Mark said the Opposition had difficulty with the process since the CoP had 6,000 arms-bearing people under their command and “if you put the wrong person in charge, we would end up with an Eric (Gairy) like in Grenada with a Mongoose Gang, a Burnham in Guyana or a Papa Doc and Baby Doc in Haiti and a criminal in the Philippines named Marcos.”
Dismissing claims of consultation, Mark maintained there was no discussions with the Police Service Commission (PSC) or other stakeholders, including the Police Second Division Association and the Opposition.
Claiming the PSC was being undermined, he challenged the Government to say who was consulted before making the Orders.
Mark said there was a “massive difference” between the 2015 Orders and the 2009 Orders for the selection process and six aspects were left out.
While the Director of Personnel Administration (DPA) had triggered the process in the 2009 Order, the 2015 Orders mandated that the PSC on request of the National Security Minister had to seek to contract “an appropriate local firm” to do recruitment of candidates and invite applications for the jobs.
Claiming the PNM had been trying since 1994 to undermine the Police Service, he queried if the situation was an attempt to “hijack” the service.
Mark questioned how the firm would select candidates since, unlike 2009, the Orders didn’t speak of advertising.
He said the Government also deleted clauses allowing the PSC to have input on the matter which existed in the 2009 Order. Mark also questioned why the 2009 criteria, including leadership, management and communication skills, integrity, commitment to the Police Service’s cause and vision to guide the service, was omitted.
He said the Attorney General hinted last year the Orders would have been completed by the end of last November. They were eventually published on December 16, 2015, suggesting they had been completed by the end of November.
Mark said the situation suggested a surreptitious approach by the Government and denial of Parliament’s right to examine the Orders since lawmakers were subsequently debating the Orders after they became law when they were published in December.
