A “disgrace” said one; “unsuitable,” asserted another, and “questionable,” insisted a third.
Those were some of the words used by Guyanese of different ethnic backgrounds in New York City to describe the decision by their country’s leader, President Bharrat Jagdeo, to make the former New York City Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik his country’s new security czar.
The Guyanese rejected the appointment because of Kerik’s troubles with the law and questions about his standards of behaviour. Interestingly, they didn’t object on grounds of colour or nationality.
Indeed, the citizens of the English-speaking nations which serves as the home of the Caribbean Community’s headquarters and its nerve centre would readily accept an expert criminologist from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation with a proven track record in fighting crime, an experienced administrator from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a respected retiree from Britain’s famed Scotland Yard or a highly trained Caribbean police commissioner before they would embrace Kerik. “Kerik is the wrong person for the job, given his background, totally unsuitable,” said Edmund Brathwaite, a leading businessman in Brooklyn. “My general sense is that the government of Guyana had to find somebody who they believe have the experience and the policing background to help them. At the same time, though, they had to find someone who is so compromised just as they are
