…(PNC) muscles in GOF
By now your Eyewitness hopes his dear readers appreciate that in all of life happenstances, there’s the TEXT but more importantly, there’s the CONTEXT! Everything is context. So let’s look at the context of what’s going down between the President and the Police Service Commission (PSC). The latter is a CONSTITUTIONAL Commission governed by rules so that it’s not unduly influenced by outsiders – especially the Executive.
So far so good. But as Burnham was fond of pointing out, there are many ways to kill a cat. He, of course – as was his wont – illustrated his point for gory effect – you can give them mange, you can wring their necks, etc…etc. In the case of the GECOM Commission, we saw how Granger followed his mentor Burnham in unilateral appointments to control it.
With the PSC – which has three-year terms – Granger couldn’t appoint one of his minions who he could control immediately since it was appointed by Ramotar in 2015. So, he did the next best thing for him – even though it was illegal and unconstitutional to boot. In 2017, he simply ORDERED the PSC – after “consulting “with Jagdeo as Opposition Leader –- to halt the appointments the CoP had recommended. In the meantime, chess player Granger brought up some cockamamie issue about the top ranks of the GPF not taking seriously an “assassination plot” on him as the reason for his order!
He appointed a one-man CoI in the person of retired Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe, who’d crossed swords on more than one occasion with the previous PPP Home Affairs Minister. There were no doubts about his leanings – just as there were none about past Police Commissioner Winston Felix who moved seamlessly from his Police office into Ministerial Office under the PNC. Anyhow, Slowe’s CoI duly presented his report and the Police Officers’ heads who Granger wanted out – rolled!
It didn’t surprise anyone when a year later, Slowe was appointed as Chair of the new Police Service Commission that dealt with all appointments below CoP and Assistant CoP. The new Granger-appointed CoP had submitted a welter of proposed appointments, but they were challenged by one officer who claimed he was unfairly bypassed. Then the PNC was outed and this same Slowe was caught with his hands allegedly in the cookie jar and dismissed by President Ali.
The Court just ruled that the reason given for bypassing the officer – disciplinary infractions – was procedurally a valid one even though there was no substantive decision. But in the meantime, the entire PSC – which was dismissed by Pres Ali – with Slowe refusing to move on, has insisted its appointments are valid.
The President says they aren’t.
It’s all politics by other means!!
…by PNC on Haitian abuse
Now that the PNC and its Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix are out of office, the dirty underside of the trafficking in Haitian migrants is coming to light. Some folks love to go on about the historic revolution by Haitians between 1793 and 1802 to defeat the French Empire and free itself from slavery. But they should explain that apart from the machinations of the Europeans and Americans, the Haitian leadership also have played a big role to keep them as perennial “poorest country in the Western Hemisphere”.
But for the grace of God that would’ve been our fate under Burnham – but luckily, he passed on an operating table in Georgetown. By which time we were perched precariously just above Haiti. In his last decade, fully a quarter of our population fled to every country under the sun – legally and illegally.
So we should be sympathetic to the plight of the Haitians.
But unlike the PNC, we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to their exploitation by coyotes.
…against anarchy
The PNC’s agog on the Regional Support Team that’s being formed to address security challenges. Under the Joint Services, it’ll deal with both internal and external threats.
So why’s the PNC getting its Buckta in a knot?
