(Trinidad Express) In an address of 2,164 words last night, made necessary by the allegations against the Attorney General, the Prime Minister dedicated virtually one line to her outgoing Attorney General Anand Ramlogan.
“The Attorney General has vehemently denied the allegation” (of witness tampering), she said.
But Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar went to town on Police Complaints Authority (PCA) Director David West, criticised the actions of her outgoing National Security Minister Gary Griffith and waded into Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
The Prime Minister suggested that Griffith had a moral obligation to tell her if and when Ramlogan had asked him to place a call to West (seeking to have West withdraw his witness statement). “The question is whether the Minister was not under an obligation to inform me, as the Prime Minister, that he made such a call. The situation would have been very different had such a request not been made and this matter been brought to my earlier attention,” she said, noting that Griffith admitted to making “such a call”.
The Prime Minister went after West, whose resignation she vociferously called for and whose position she insisted had now been severely compromised. She asserted West’s office as Director of the PCA had been compromised and brought into disrepute by the allegations, along with the office of the Attorney General and the Minister of National Security.
“I cast no aspersions on the capacity or performance of those that hold these positions, but cannot have these offices be so embroiled in conflict and controversy eroding public confidence in the institutions which they lead…. What is also of equally grave concern to me, as it must be to the nation, is the compromised position of the Director of the PCA, arising out of this situation. The question must arise as to why he did not make it known to me or to His Excellency President Anthony Carmona when the position of heading the PCA was offered to him in November,” the Prime Minister stated.
“Further,” she asked, “why did he wait until now to make public this matter.”
“The head of the Police Complaints Authority has the responsibility to investigate complaints against police officers. He would find himself doing so now while he himself has filed a matter for investigation to the Commissioner of Police,” the Prime Minister stated.
She added: “The threat of conflict of interest or perception thereof clearly emerges and compromises the role of the head of the PCA”.
The ball is now in the President’s court as to whether he would heed the Prime Minister’s statements and remove West from office.
All this happened in the process of telling the nation that she had fired or as she put it—“asked for the resignations of” the Attorney General and Griffith.
She said she received the resignation of the Attorney General, who has been replaced by former High Commissioner to the UK, Garvin Nicholas.
Griffith, who has been replaced by Brigadier General Carl Alfonso, (a former executive director at the Prime Minister’s residence and Diplomatic Centre), later stated that he did not tender his resignation.
Both Ramlogan and Griffith are “embroiled” in the witness tampering allegation drama. The Prime Minister’s reshuffle went further though, and she threw out three other members of her Government—Emmanuel George and Embau Moheni.
The shock revocation was that of Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith, for which the Prime Minister gave no elaboration.
Questions now arise as to who would replace Hamel-Smith as all the government members of Senate have ministerial portfolios, with the exception of James Lambert, the Vice President.
The Senate requires two members on the Government side to not have portfolios in order to serve as President and Vice President, especially since the President of the Senate acts for the President of the Republic when he is abroad.
It means that someone may have to be relieved of their ministerial portfolio in order to have the Senate properly constituted.
The other new faces to the Cabinet are:
* Brent Sancho, former national footballer, has now been added to the Cabinet as Minister of Sport, ( leaving Rupert Griffith once again with Science and Technology)
* Christine Newallo-Hosein, a former Advisor to the Prime Minister at the Ministry of the People and Social Development, as Minister of the People and
* Kwasi Mutema, Minister in the Ministry in Works and Infrastructure.
George’s justice portfolio is now added to Prakash Ramadhar’s Ministry of Legal Affairs; and Stacy Roopnarine, was moved from Works and assigned to Gender, Youth and Child Development.
The five new members of the Government would be in office for a maximum of seven months as the country is on the “cusp” of a general election.
The Prime Minister spent much of her address criticising Rowley, saying he had an obligation to inform the President, if the knew, about the alleged witness tampering allegation.
“Failure by the Opposition Leader to do so at the time when he was consulted about the appointment by myself- we had discussions…it would also have been obligatory upon him to have informed His Excellency. Failure by the Opposition Leader to do so at the time does create doubt to any independent observer as to why no mention was made at the time of the appointment in November…. Given the political sensitivity and nature of the alleged incidents it would have been not just prudent but mandatory that both myself and His Excellency, the President be informed. Withholding such information has seriously compromised the appointment of the Director of the PCA,” the Prime Minister said.
She also chastised Rowley for not disclosing that West was involved as a witness in the defamation lawsuit brought by Ramlogan against him. “Had there been a disclosure by the Opposition Leader of the personal interest in a legal matter involving himself and the Director of the PCA at the point of his nomination to be head of the PCA, the conflict of interest would have been declared,” the Prime Minister said.
