Former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix, who recently came out in support of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has said that his move was influenced by his genuine desire to see Guyanese unified and his respect for the party’s presidential candidate, retired Brigadier David Granger.
The move by Felix to become a candidate for APNU -which he said was a result of the urgings of persons in the neighbourhood where he lives – and his endorsement of the party came as a surprise to many and has already seen criticisms being levelled against him for the recent move.
However, Felix staunchly defended his right to be part of any political party and strongly denied allegations that he allowed political considerations to influence his work as a police officer and later as the head of the force.
Asked in an exclusive interview with Stabroek News whether he believes that just five years after he demitted the office of head of the Guyana Police Force it was appropriate for him to be part of a political party, Felix said that it is just another way for him to give service to his country.
“Five years is a long time and in that five years I had no political activity, actually I only became involved after Brigadier David Granger was elected the presidential candidate for the People’s National Congress Reform and immediately I thought that I should make myself available to render whatever assistance he would require,” Felix said.
Felix said he felt it was necessary to support Granger because of “the man I know him to be, a man of impeccable character, a professional soldier, an academic and a man with a mind, a mind of his own.”
Further describing Granger as a “clear thinker”, Felix said he thought that whatever support he could give to him he should and that was why he has come out in support of APNU.
“If there is nothing else about APNU, then national unity is what we must all strive for, I am a citizen of Guyana, I served my time in the Guyana Police Force, thirty-six years. November 1 marked five years since I retired from the Guyana Police Force and I think that is enough time…,” the former top cop said.
Professional
decisions
While admitting that persons had accused him of allowing political influence to interfere with his work, Felix said he was always professional in his work and he always worked to ensure national security.
“I have never in my service and even as commissioner made any decision, based on political influences. As a matter of fact I had to resist the PPP…I took decisions which I felt were professional decisions and not decisions which would have been preferred by the PPP,” Felix said.
Further probed on this statement, Felix declined to give details but maintained that he was always professional in his duties. He added that if anyone wants to label him in that office as being PNC “so be it.”
“All I want to say is that there is a Father up above and he knows what was in my mind and what is in my mind, mankind cannot know,” Felix said, adding that people can
“make statements which are unfounded.”
He said unfounded statements have been made to label persons and then these are thrown out to the public as the truth.
“I would love to see a united Guyana, which aligns itself with our motto, One People, One Nation, One Destiny.”
‘Took away
capital’
Meanwhile, Felix said as soon as he became commissioner of police the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs commenced providing the force with “just what was necessary to keep you going.”
“Immediately upon my assumption of office Home Affairs took away the capital so you had no access to funds to do capital work…,” said Felix, reflecting the rocky relationship with the government in his later days in the force.
At his first press conference following his endorsement of APNU, Felix had alleged that the Guyana Police Force was deliberately starved of resources for its enhancement.
During the interview with Stabroek News he gave the example of a training school at Adventure, Berbice needing repairs while he was in office but this was neglected by the government who chose instead to start up one in Essequibo.
He said when one would have considered the force’s circumstances at the time when it came to manpower it would have been easier to repair a new structure than to renovate a building and turn it into a training school.
“We were doing well in terms of recruitment in Berbice and I thought we could have kept that going by repairing the training school,” he said.
According to Felix when it came to equipment, neither he nor his senior officers had any say in what was being ordered and who was doing the ordering. He mentioned the purchasing of radar guns which he said was done “through some obscure services” and the guns stopped functioning within three months.
“And that is what I had to put up with. And I can point to radar guns very easily because it was striking that the persons who were importing radar guns knew nothing about what they were importing so that by the time those radar guns came with little use they went out of service. So you had equipment that was not equipment and you did without that equipment until another year until you went through another budgetary process.”
He said there were a number of other issues concerning allocations of funds which were held back “but I don’t want to get into that discussion, but we could have done better with better bulletproof vests, firearms and ammunition, we could have done better in those areas but if you don’t have the money or you are not given the money you can’t spend it.”
Felix said there was “heavy interference” while he was commissioner but said it was more blatant when Ronald Gajraj was Minister of Home Affairs than under the tenure of Gail Teixeira.
“I knew when I became police commissioner I was not the choice [of the ruling PPP’s administration],” Felix said, adding that “if certain personalities had a desire to remain I would have been out for the entire period.”
