LEADER of Government Business Clarence Rambharat said the Opposition UNC knows it fully supports the Commissioner of Police (CoP) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Selection Process) Order 2021, despite the protestations of its senators to the contrary.
In his contribution to debate on a private motion to annul this order in the Senate on Monday, Rambharat said the UNC's wholehearted support for the order is rooted in the fact that it contains the same things which incumbent CoP Gary Griffith articulated as national security minister seven years ago.
Quoting some of Griffith's words from the parliamentary records of December 18, 2014, when the UNC-led People's Partnership coalition was in government, Rambharat said, "He was articulating the policy of the government he served at that time."
As he continued to quote from the documents before him, Rambharat glanced occasionally in the direction of opposition senators.
"My friends opposite ought to be no strangers to what is before us today."
Rambharat said even in 2014 as national security minister, Griffith recognised the need to make the process to appoint a CoP less cumbersome and to simplify "the protracted and convoluted process for selecting persons to hold the highest offices in the police service."
He said there was no way at that time, that Griffith would ever have believed he would become a CoP.
Rambharat said only the PNM had courage to "support the appointment of the former UNC senator and minister of national security (as CoP)."
He said because this process was never simplified, former CoP Stephen Williams acted in that post 13 times but was never fully appointed to the post.
Rambharat said all legislators must accept responsibility for the process being as problematic as it has been.
"We created it and we are the ones to fix it."
Senate vice-president Nigel De Freitas dismissed claims by opposition senators Wade Mark and Jayanti Lutchmedial that there was something suspicious about the order.
"There is nothing that is untoward."
De Freitas said the process was considerably improved by sending all the names of potential candidates to the President for consideration.
He also said the order allowed for the candidate with the highest grade on the merit list to be scrutinised first by the House of Representatives and it was impossible for candidates lower on the list to jump ahead of the top candidate and be scrutinsed sooner.
De Freitas also said it was proper for the Police Service Commission to have full autonomy as to whether or not it hires a firm to assist in recruiting a CoP or DCP. Recalling instances when there was no substantive CoP in office before Griffith's appointment on August 3, 2018, De Freitas said, "That can't be right. You want stability. You don't want a convoluted process."
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